


Conquering The Past

by LightningStrike83



Category: Overwatch (Video Game), 終わりのセラフ | Owari no Seraph | Seraph of the End
Genre: Action, Angst, Guren as Genji, Kimizuki as Soldier: 76, Kureto as Reaper, Lacus as Junkrat, M/M, Mika as Widowmaker, Mitsuba as Mercy, Rene as Roadhog, Shinoa as D.Va, Shinya as Zenyatta, Slow Burn, Suspense, Yoichi as Mei, Yuu as Tracer, eventual love, yuumika
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-06-07 08:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 31,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6797281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningStrike83/pseuds/LightningStrike83
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of being apart, Yuu and Mika are finally reunited once more. However, things have changed. Mika is a skilled sniper and trained to be the perfect assassin whereas Yuu had an unfortunate accident that gave him astounding powers. With different goals but a common enemy in sight, they have but two weeks to team up and accomplish everything, and for Yuu to convince Mika to join his broken family once time is up. Overwatch AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Incident

Mikaela Tepes, codename: Widowmaker. My present objective is to eliminate Mahiru Hiragi: a messenger of peace between nations, a brilliant scientist, and an irreplaceable icon. That is why my superiors want her eliminated. They needed someone with cunning intuition, someone who could get the job done quickly, someone who could get the job done without a trace. They chose the best, they chose me.

I emerged from the shadows and checked the surroundings. Across all the rooftops surrounding the platform where the target was giving her speech, there were nine armed guards spread around. The minimum I would need to take out would be three. To the South-West of the podium was a perfect spot where I could take aim without being noticed much. I needed to take out the guards in the surrounding buildings to eliminate suspicion.

I equipped my grappling hook, and swung over to the South-most building, landing just shortly behind one of the guards. He didn’t hear or see me coming, just as I planned. I snuck up behind him, and with a swift chop at his neck, he fell down to the ground unconscious. Perfect.

I repeated the same actions for the other two buildings. I would say that the guards were weak, but it was probably the best operatives that they could afford; I was just better. That is how the Sanguinem trained me after all, to be the perfect assassin skilled with a sniper.

With the guards disabled, I perched behind a cooling unit and took aim. My sight on the target was clear, my sniper was fully charged. I held my breath and waited for the perfect moment to strike. One wrong move would compromise the mission, and I had a perfect streak. All it took was one shot, one kill, then my mission would be accomplished.

My finger began to squeeze the trigger, just about to fully pull it, but I had to halt my actions. I sensed someone was behind me. I swiftly sidestepped and backflipped away from the barrage of bullets that were being sprayed at me.

I landed on my feet and switched my sniper to its light machine gun mode and examined the one that was taking aimed at me. Our eyes met and soon grew wide with surprise once we realized who the other was. I bet my lower lip, realizing that my mission had just become more difficult than I had anticipated. I muttered the words, “Yuu-chan.”

Yuuchirou Hyakuya, codename: Tracer. A former agent of the now disbanded Moon Demon initiative and a familiar face from my past. The two of us hailed from the same orphanage but had to part ways due to two different sets of people wanting to adopt us. I was taken in by Krul Tepes while he apparently was taken in by the target. I kept tabs on his life in between missions. I read that there was an accident a few years ago regarding the paranormal variety. He was presumed dead for 3 months, before he was found in the same lab by the target. The media went only as far as that in their reports but I knew more. He had apparently been infused with a demon and had struggles keeping his body on Earth, having it flash between Earth and Hell. A device was created specially for him that kept his body permanently on Earth. Because of the demon inside of him, he has the power of superhuman speed, able to flash anywhere in the blink of an eye.

I would like to say that I knew so much about him because I held concern for him, which I did. However, the Sanguinem informed me that eventually, future targets will be the former Moon Demon agents. Yuu included. It was a day that I was not looking forward to, but one that had to come nevertheless.

He placed his hand on the top of his head, brushing his bangs so that they mixed with the rest of his hair. His body loosened up as he eyed me from top to bottom. “Is that really you Mika?”

I nodded in response. Yuu began pacing back and forth, swinging the guns in his hand. “Man, I cannot believe this. Mika, please tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing.”

“Yuu-chan, please leave and let me accomplish my mission. It will be easier on the both of us.”

He held his gun out so that it was aimed at my head. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Mika, I don’t want this to end in conflict but I cannot allow you to do this either. We can put this behind us, and catch up, whattya say?”

I remained still, with my gun still raised and ready to shoot at any given moment. Yuu may be an old friend and comrade but what was important to me was the mission and nothing more.

The black-haired man sighed. “I’m not going to enjoy this.”


	2. Mission Briefing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy! So I saw some interest in this fic so I'm continuing it~ Not sure how far I'll go with this but hey, so long as the passion for this story burns, it'll continue :D

*2 years later*

“There you are my Widowmaker.” the rose haired woman on the screen said as I entered the chamber. Seeing her ready for me only meant one thing: There was a new mission for me. Anyone else would have complained but not I. This is what my life was like, ever since I was adopted by this woman. I was used to it. “I trust that your mission was a success.”

“Indeed.” I replied, placing my sniper rifle on the table next to me and sat in the leather seat in front of the screen. “What are my new orders?”

She smiled. “Right to it then? I have trained you well my son.”

An image appeared at the bottom of the screen, displaying a darkened urban city with modern age buildings. “Your mission is to travel to King’s Row and ensure perfect transfer of this payload. It will depart in three days, plenty of time for you to get there.”

The image zoomed into a truck that was on the streets. It was large, black, and armoured. I recognized the model, it was a top of the line vehicle that only carried the most important of cargo. It’s automatic, not needing a driver. As such, the front doors were missing from it and a windshield was not necessary. It was near impossible to steal.

I raised my eyebrow inquisitively at her. “Are you positive that I am needed for this mission?”

“Very. Trust us, you are our only agent with the expertise for this mission, and the only one we can trust.”

“Understood.” I grabbed the sniper rifle off the table and began to take my leave. “I will download the mission specs to my visor. I trust that is all?”

“Not quite.” I spun around and stared at her. It appeared as if her face had grown more stiff with concern. “Eliminate anyone that interferes with this mission. No survivors.”

“Understood.”

*

The trip to King’s Row was a short one, but it was long enough to give me a chance to review the mission details as I normally do. The key to any mission is to be prepared ahead of time for anything. That is how to ensure success; that was how I was trained.

For this mission, I had to review the route that the payload would be taking, examining where anyone would strike from and where my best camping points would be. As well, I had to think of motives and possibilities of who would want to strike the cargo. Knowing your enemy means getting the upper hand in a confrontation should one present itself.

It would have helped if the mission details contained what exactly what it was the payload was transferring. For some reason, it was left out whether it was on purpose or by accident. Either way, this impaired my planning so I would have to adjust. Knowing the way the Sanguinem is, the cargo must be something important and secret. I had to assume it wasn’t money, which meant I wouldn’t be dealing with common-level thugs. My best bet was to bet on it was a biological weapon, which meant I would most likely have to prepare and deal with a specialized taskforce. If they were anything like the agents from my mission two years ago then they would be easy to take out, but I couldn’t count on that. I had to prepare for the worst.

I began to review the image that Krul displayed during mission briefing, trying to see if there was anything that would be significant to me. At first glance, it just looked like a normal picture of a normal city with a payload on the streets. However, my keen eye managed to pick something up in the background that would’ve been invisible to anyone not specifically looking at every minute detail.

It was blurry, but I used my visor to digitally enhance the image. I scowled at the sight, my face furrowing as soon as I realized. A man, with jet black hair and googles over his face and dressed in an orange jumpsuit and a brown coat. There was no doubt about it, it was without a doubt the ex-Moon Demon agent Tracer; it was Yuu-chan.

“ _Eliminate anyone that interferes with this mission. No survivors._ ”

I had to remind myself of those words. That was part of my mission details, that was something I had to do without question no matter who it was. No matter the past, if Yuu-… Tracer interferes, I have to take it upon myself to eliminate him.

Besides, after our last encounter, I believed that he would have no qualms doing the same to me.


	3. Reunion

*3 Days Later*

King’s Row, the heart of England. This is where my latest mission was taking place, to help escort an important and secret payload to its destination and taking out any that get in my way.

I kept to the rooftops, making sure to stay out of visible sight. Unlike all of my previous missions, the enemy was unknown so I had to be prepared for anything. The only thing that I knew was that Yuuchirou Hyakuya, aka Tracer, was in this city also. I hope for his sake that our paths would not cross again. I do not wish for things to go as they did last time.

I had set traps around the rooftops that were surrounding the payload’s route. Anyone that comes near them will get poisoned by a toxic cloud and will soon fall to their death before they can even reach the payload.

The large clock in the middle of the city struck eight, and the warehouse that held the payload opened its doors, revealing the large vehicle inside. It began to slowly depart the building and present itself onto the streets of King’s Row and making its way to the warehouse on the other side of the city.

It was slow, and sluggish, taking half an hour to make it half way across the city. It mattered not to me. I was trained to be patient.

There was no sign of Tracer thus far, or anyone else that wanted to assault the vehicle. Everyone seemed to treat it as a regular vehicle. I used my sniper to examine potential suspects as it moved, but everyone was but a mere innocent civilian, thus irrelevant to my mission.

All of a sudden, I heard a click behind me, followed by a familiar, manly voice. “You have some nerve coming back here.”

“Hello Tracer.” I said without moving from my position. “I was wondering when you would show up.”

“What are you here for this time? There’s no more Hiragis left for you to kill.”

“That is none of your concern. So far I have considered you irrelevant to my mission. Please do not make me regret my decision.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I heard his guns charge up behind me, causing me to sigh. Immediately, I ejected my grappling hook and shot myself to the rooftop across the street. However, it broke off half way through as I was tackled and sent crashing through the window just below with my assaulter. I raised my gun and looked him straight in the eye. “You do realize what happened last time?”

He scowled. “Yeah, but I’m more prepared to deal with you this time!”

He disappeared and appeared right behind me. He was about to kick me mid-air, but I used my gun to block the attack and bunt him away. However, in another flash, he disappeared and emerged behind me once more, but lower. He low swept my legs, causing me to topple over. In response, I landed on my hands and pushed myself forward so that I could kick him out of the window and back out onto the streets of the city.

I ran and jumped out, swinging back onto the rooftops and ran following alongside the payload. The sounds that were coming from behind me meant that he was hot on my tail. Luckily, I was coming up to a little surprise for him.

Just as I was nearing an air vent, I leapt in the air and spun around, with my sniper up to head. As soon as he was clear in position, I took shot at one of my venom mines that I had placed around it earlier. It immediately released a toxic gas and engulfed him in its fumes.

Immediately, he dropped down to his knees and began coughing and holding his side. I walked up to him. “I apologize Yuu-chan that it had to end this way. I wish you would have listened, that things could have been different. We could have been allies, if only you had accepted my invitation back then…”

To my surprise, he rewound himself and he was on the other side on the air vent, appearing to be in prime condition. He leaped over the toxic cloud and landed on my body, pinning me to the ground. I could see that there was anger in his eyes, that he was furious.

I raised my gun at his chest, but he put both of his guns at the sides of my head. “You’re not doing that again!”

The two of us remained there, motionless and speechless. I could see that tears were streaming down his eyes. He was showing emotion, something that one shouldn’t do to their opponent.

“Why Mika, how can you do all this?!?! What… what did they do to you!!!”

He dropped his guns and wrapped his arms around my body, gripping tightly and making me almost immobile. I felt his body shaking against mine as his emotions grew even more intense. “Mika, I want… I want you back! Please!!!”

I tilted my head and saw the payload had almost reached its destination. I managed to get my right hand free and shoot a grappling hook that set me free from his grasp.

“Mika!” he cried out to me, flashing after me.

I landed right beside the vehicle I was sent to protect, with Yuu landing just in front of me. I held my sniper up at him and he did the same with his twin guns.

“Mika, don’t do this, not again!”

Just as the two of us were about to shoot, a large figure appeared on top of the payload. It appeared to be a person, dressed in a long black robe, with two large guns in their hands. They looked behind themselves and us. They donned a large white mask that looked like a skull.

In a deep, dark, and sinister voice, they said to us. “Well, well, what do we have here?”

“Who are you?” Tracer yelled at the person.

“You may call me Reaper. And I know who the two of you are, Tracer and Widowmaker.”

My eyes narrowed at them. “You’re here for the payload, aren’t you?”

“I am, and I know that the two of you are here to stop me.”


	4. Reaper

“Wait a moment, Mika; you’re here to protect this payload also?” I nodded in response, keeping my eyes fixated on the black robed person in front of us. “Man, I’m such an idiot. We fought for no reason. We could have teamed up!”

“What’s past is past. My current objective is to eliminate any that get in my way, which means him. Assist or leave.”

I noticed thanks to my peripheral vision that he stood firm and ready, raising his guns at the target. “After all these years Mika, I’m not going to leave you again.”

The figure’s shoulders began to swiftly rise up and down, as if they were chuckling. “The two of you are welcome to try and stop me. However, I do believe you’ll be unsuccessful.”

The two of us began shooting at the figure. Shadows began to surround them, but it was different than when they appeared. It appeared as if they were making their body ghostly, causing our bullets to phase right through them.

“Behind you love!” Tracer said, as he flashed behind the figure. It was a smart move, seeing if the back side would be vulnerable as it was a blind spot. However, just like from the front, the bullets phased right through them, and were coming straight at me. I backflipped away and got to safety. When I checked the target, they had disappeared. I glanced over at Tracer, who shrugged his shoulders in response.

I lowered my visor and looked around for heat signatures. There was nothing within its radius except for civilians.

“Behind you.” the grim voice said. Somehow, it appeared as if I had been flanked with no time to react.

“Mika!” Tracer cried, as appeared at my side and tackled me out of the way of the target’s shots. When he saw I was fine, he smiled then flashed away, trying to attack the target using close quarters combat. This was a perfect opportunity for me.

I shot my grappling hook and launched myself onto the rooftops, quickly perching myself into sniping position. It was just as I thought; the target was distracted and focused on Tracer, giving me a chance to take him out. One shot was all it would take. One shot, one kill.

I set my sights on him and waited patiently for the perfect moment to take the shot. The movements were currently unpredictable thanks to Tracer’s fighting. I had to wait for an opening, hoping that Tracer would give me one.

“From down under.” he said as he appeared on the ground, trying to low sweep the target. This was my chance. Their head was lowered.

I held my breath and squeezed the trigger, causing a single bullet to come flying out from the barrel and straight in the path towards their head. As I mentioned earlier, one shot was all that it would take… or perhaps not.

They floated sideways, as if they were sidestepping. It was like they had anticipated the bullet. It hadn’t gone to waste though, it managed to knock the skull mask off of their face and shatter it to pieces.

With it gone, the figure covered their face as if they didn’t want to be seen. Tracer used the opportunity to stick both of his guns up to the sides of their head. I activated my laser sight and set it right where their forehead should be. They had nowhere to go now; they were as good as dead.

The target retracted his arm and looked up directly at me with their stern brown eyes. I took the opportunity to study their face and memorize it. They were male with pale skin, black hair like Tracers, and large eyebrows that matched the colour of his hair were what I was able to identify.

Just as I squeezed the trigger, releasing a second bullet at him, he disappeared in a swarm of shadows. In place of the man’s head, the bullet hit Tracer’s shoulder instead.

“I told you that you would not be able to stop me.” the voice echoed from behind me. I anticipated that he was armed, ready to shoot. I rolled away and aimed my sniper up, hoping to get lucky with my shot. I saw, however, that he was unarmed and merely staring down at me. “However, you are better than expected. You are definitely one of hers.”

Seeing the opportunity, I took a shot directly at his head, but it phased through him like before. He began chuckling once more. “You’re lucky, Mika was it? Or would you prefer Widowmaker? I must retreat in fear of being seen without my mask. Your mission will be accomplished this time. We will cross paths once again, perhaps as an ally. Farewell.”

Just like that, he disappeared in a swarm of shadows. I used my visor to scout the area, to see if I could pick up on his trail. I was unable, which irritated me. My mission was to leave no survivors, which was not met.

I pushed the thoughts aside and joined Tracer’s side on the streets, just as the payload was reaching its destination. I turned to him. “Was he one of yours?”

“Nope.” he said, holding his shoulder. “Yours?”

“I do not believe so. I will do research once I return.”

I began walking towards the payload, but I was stopped with a hand being placed against my shoulder, gripping tightly. “Please, Mika, don’t go back. Stay with me.”

“The name’s Widowmaker.” I said, as I shrugged off his arm and went to the payload’s side. It stopped midway into the building, where the contacts began unloading it. I had to ensure the cargo would not be swiped by anyone on the inside. After our previous encounter with Reaper, I had to be prepared for any other surprises.

I examined the cargo that they unloaded. It wasn’t as I had presumed or anticipated. It was… coffins. My mind began wander and think, why would I be assigned to protect coffins and what makes them so important.

“Curse them.” Tracer said as he joined my side and watched the coffins unload. I looked over and raised an eyebrow that he noticed. “Your organization Mik… Widowmaker. They took them away from me.”

He pointed at the first coffin that was taken out. “Akane Hyakuya, codename Symmetra.”

He pointed at the second one. “Makoto Narumi, codename McCree.”

He pointed at the last coffin that was currently being taken out. “Norito Goshi, codename Reinhardt. All ex-Moon Demon agents that were taken out by your organization. I thought your organization wanted to claim their bodies, that’s why I attacked you earlier but…”

“They wanted to confirm the kills and ensure that they were disposed of in case someone were to abduct them and use them.” I interjected, the mission making sense to me now. However, two other questions arose. Why was I not informed of the contents and what use did Reaper have in mind for the bodies? These were questions I had to find answers to.

“The Moon Demon initiative has a policy that’s still enacted even after disbandment. If any agent dies, their bodies are to be incinerated. That’s why I came to protect the payload also. Plus, I wanted to say my goodbyes. They were good people, and even better agents.”

He walked up to the caskets and placed his hand on them, bowing his head. Seeing this display caused something to bloom inside of me. I couldn’t explain it, but it was unpleasant. I looked away and began taking my leave, trusting the rest of this operation to Tracer.

He noticed this and flashed forward in front of me, blocking my path. “Mika, please listen to me. There’s not many of us left. One by one, my friends, my family are being taken away from me! You’re still here though! I don’t care what you’ve done, what you’ve done to me also. I just want to protect everyone that’s left from those vile people. So please, Mika, I’ll ask one more time. Won’t you please leave with me?”


	5. Time Off

“Welcome home Widowmaker.” the woman on the screen greeted. I grimaced and tossed my sniper on the table beside me and took my seat in front of the screen. “What is it this time Krul?”

“I’d like a debriefing first, if you wouldn’t mind.” Her eyes were sharp and piercing but I didn’t let it intimidate me. “Mission was a success. The cargo was transported successfully and disposed of. Casualties were none. Not the best use of my skills.”

“Was there any trouble?” I looked away from the screen. “I thought I ordered no survivors.”

“They escaped.”

“I trained you better than that. Perhaps I should bring you in for more training.”

I returned my eyes to the screen, making them as stern and intimidating as hers were. “There is no need. It will not happen again.”

“I would hope not. Now, as for your next mission,” I raised my hand and stopped her mid-sentence. She looked at me curiously. “What is it?”

“Send it to your field agents. I’m taking time off.”

“Time off? Excuse me Widowmaker, you are a trained assassin under the Sanguinem’s command. There is no ‘time off’ for you. What is it that’s so important that you would make such a request.”

“I’m on a manhunt. There is someone that must track down and eliminate immediately. It’s a personal matter.”

“Request denied. Now, as for your mission-“

“Fine then.” I interrupted. “Then I have a question. Does the name ‘Reaper’ ring any bells?”

She was silent. At the mention of the name, she looked away and refused to make eye contact. I noticed her body became stiff and she was crumpling papers under her hands. “Two weeks. That is all you get. Whether you kill your target or not, you will return in that timeframe. Understood.”

“Understood.” I rose up and retrieved my sniper, taking my leave. I looked back at her just as I was about to exit the room. “By the way, it wasn’t a request.“

I made my way to the rooftop of the building, where a helicopter was waiting for me. I crawled into the passenger’s seat, tossing my sniper in the back. I looked at the pilot, who was smiling brightly at me. I asked him, “Alright, it’s been done. Where are we going Tracer?”  


“I have a lead in Nepal. And please, call me Yuu, just like old times.”


	6. Ambush

Nepal was our current location, more specifically, at a sacred temple that said could perform miracles. This is the location where Tracer-… Yuu-chan’s lead said that the one known as Reaper would be. I was determined to eliminate him by any means necessary, even if it meant teaming up with someone I didn’t want to. The failure to eliminate him got underneath my skin. I was outsmarted, and I didn’t appreciate it. The next time we meet, it will go a lot differently and I will be better prepared to deal with him.

I laid flat on my stomach, using my visor to scan the insides of the temple. I opened radio communications with Yuu-chan. “You have twelve inside. One top floor, one West hallway, one East hallway, and nine in the center. Four on each side with one in the direct center.”

“Copy that.” he said, looking over at my location and giving me a thumb up. I did not care much for working together with someone, I was trained to work solo. I originally declined his offer to stay with him. For reasons that I myself do not realize, leaked information slip that I was going to hunt after Reaper. As soon as he heard this, he insisted that would join me, saying things such as “I won’t let you do it alone!” I kept declining him, even threatening to shoot him. But his insistent nattering caused me to give in and allow him to join me. I did not give into him easily, however. I was trained to never owe a debt to anyone as it could compromise future missions. I gave him the condition that if we were to do this, we would also hunt for his missing comrades in the process and ensure their safety. This way, he’s happy and can leave me alone and I won’t owe a debt to him for his assistance in this manhunt.

I will admit, after our encounter with Reaper, it is beneficial to have someone watch my flank. That is a sniper’s biggest weakness. The proof was each encounter I had with Yuu. Normally my senses are attuned to hear if someone would be sneaking up on me, and even if there was too much noise, I had traps that would protect myself. But with Reaper and Yuu, they possess special powers that make them null and void. If it wasn’t for Yuu’s kind heart or Reaper needing to retreat, I would’ve been dead three times over.

“Place seems clear.” a familiar voice spoke from behind me. Please allow me to reword myself; I would’ve been dead four times over.

I spun around and looked at him dead in his eyes. “It appears as if your contact was wrong.”

“I don’t know why he would-“ I rose up and placed my hand on Yuu’s mouth. In the distance, I saw a shadowy figure. I couldn’t tell if it was him or not, it was too distant and too dark to see. One thing I did know is that whoever it was, was floating.

Two of us remained silent and motionless as the figure drew closer to us. I readied my sniper while Yuu prepared his guns.

Finally, the figure came into plain sight. It was a young man, with silver hair and wore nothing except pants and beads around his neck and arms.

“It’s fine Mika, he’s an ally.” He pushed my gun down, but as soon as he retracted his hand, I raised it once more. Something about this man felt off to me. I had placed traps all over the area but none of them were set off. It was suspicious to me.

“Shinya!” Yuu said as he flashed in front of him. “Decided to join us after all?”

“Something like that.” He turned his gaze towards my direction. I aimed my scope at his head, ready to pull the trigger. Yuu noticed this and flashed over and took my sniper away from me. “Relax, this is Shinya, or as others call him, Zenyatta. He’s our ally.”

“Young one, would you please care to enlighten me with your name.”

“Widowmaker.” I replied, squinting my eyes at him. He smiled at me. “A suiting name.”

I saw something dart at me at blinding fast speed. I rolled away and rose up, ready to fight with my bare hands if necessary.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what’s going on?” Yuu said, looking between the two of us. Zenyatta floated closer to Yuu and patted him on his head. “It is called balancing young Tracer, one could even say revenge. For years I have waited for an opportunity like this to present itself. And now, it was time.”

Another object darted at me. I leaped out of the way, but with my peripheral vision, noticed another was heading my way. I ducked the second one, but a third was also coming towards me. I jumped, but I was not quick enough. Whatever it was hit the bottom of my leg, causing me to topple over.

I looked down and noticed there was a large hole on it, quickly expelling blood from it.

“Shinya, Shinya, wait!” Yuu said, as he flashed in front of me, trying to protect me. “What do you mean revenge? I don’t understand!”

“This one here took her away from me.” He reached into his pants and pulled out a picture of one of my previous targets: Mahiru Hiragi. “My sister, two years ago. Her life was taken prematurely by him. Normally I am a peaceful person, however, for you Widowmaker, I am willing to make an exception.”

“Much obliged.” I replied, appearing to have increased his rage. Five orbs surrounded the rim of his head and body. They began to glow as if they were charging up. Yuu raised his weapons at him, intent on defending me. “I don’t want to hurt you Shinya! We were friends once, allies.”

“And I, you, Yuuchirou. I have no qualms with you and prefer if you did not get involved.”

I grabbed Yuu’s ankle, causing him to turn around and look at me. “This is between him and I. Toss me my sniper and I’ll end this quickly.”

He looked between the two of us, with a rushed head. “No, no, I don’t want either of you to die! You’re my friends! My family! I won’t, I won’t let you kill each other!”

He turned around and grabbed ahold of me, flashing us away from the man. Despite this, he still shot the orbs in our direction once we reappeared. I shouted “Behind us!” to him, and he flashed us out of the way just in time.

Zenyatta began chasing after us, hot on our trail and tossing more orbs at us. I kept an eye on him and told Yuu when to flash away. Each flash appeared to make him feel fatigued, but he was determined to get us to safety.

“Give me my sniper!”

“No! You’re not killing him and he’s not killing you, that’s final.”

After several more flashes, our escape finally came within sight.

“Place me in the driver’s seat!” I commanded as we approached the helicopter. I didn’t need to say it twice to get him to do it. He placed me in the seat, with him quickly taking the passenger’s seat. I started up the helicopter and flew the two of us away from the area.

I looked down and saw that our pursuer was trying to shoot us down, but his attacks would not reach. We were in the clear, for now.

“We… need… to find… you a healer.” Yuu stated, being out of breath thanks to so many uses of his power. I looked down at my leg, the condition of it hadn’t improved. I was reluctant but agreed. “United States… Route 66… I know a person.”

“Affirmative.” I said, steering the helicopter in the direction of the United States of America.


	7. Junkrat and Roadhog

Route 66: The United States of America. This is where Yuu-chan’s healer is located, where they would patch up my leg from our encounter with Zenyatta earlier.

The terrain was rough, we had to park our helicopter far away from the supposed location of this healer meaning we had to walk there. Yuu-chan offered to flash us over to their house but I declined. He was still feeling the effects from back in Nepal. Any more strain like before would be ill-advised, despite going to a healer.

I had to rely on the assistance of Yuu to help transport me as we walked. I hated to admit it, but I was immobile on my own. Curiously, he seemed happy to help and didn’t see it as a hindrance much as I was led to believe.

“I do not understand this. We were enemies two years ago, and now you’re helping me while having a smile on your face? If I did not know about your past, I would swear you were luring me into a trap, slowly making sure death befalls me.”

“It’s like I told you earlier Mika, we’re family. Families stick together.”

“I nearly caused you to die at one point.” Yuu’s face stiffened, presuming that he was remembering what it was like. Despite it, he still kept the smile on his face. “What families don’t have their tuffs once in a while. Let me tell you something Mika, when I was a kid, I was hot-headed and stubborn.”

“You mean you’ve grown out of that?” He turned over to me, his smile widening. “That’s the old Mika I know and love.”

I turned away, refusing to acknowledge his words. He continued on with his story. “You and the other orphans, I didn’t realize how important you were to me until you all left my life. I had Mahiru take me in, but she was always busy with work. It didn’t feel the same. I was lonely. Then thanks to her, I joined the Moon Demon initiative and met many great friends. They became like my new family. I wasn’t lonely anymore. Thanks to them, I realized how important family is.

And then, when the Moon Demon Initiative disbanded, I was alone again. Everyone went their separate ways. I tried to keep in contact with them but it wasn’t the same. And now, they’re being taken away from me again, only this time, there’s no chance of them returning. Ever since the first one, I swore that no matter what, I would protect all of you no matter what. That includes no matter what you all do to me. You can chop off my limbs and I would still be smiling, knowing that you all are safe.”

“I read the dossier. You didn’t need to tell me all that.”

“You’re the one that was curious, Widowmaker.” Hearing that name come from his mouth made me scowl. I didn’t understand it, I’ve been called that many times before and once by him before. But now, hearing it come from him didn’t sound right.

“Mika.” I mumbled under my breath. It was still enough to catch Yuu-chan’s attention though. “Only say Widowmaker in combat, understand? Otherwise, I’m fine with Mika.”

“There we go!” Yuu bounced in delight. The sudden and swift movements made my leg flail around a bit, something that was becoming increasing uncomfortable for me. He saw that my face had morphed to express the pain and stopped. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.”

*

“Yuu-chan, hide us quickly!” I said, as soon as spotted the back of two figures that were just before us. He looked at me inquisitively. I nudged my head to a rock nearby for us to hide behind.

I peered up from behind our spot, Yuu following suit. “What is it Mika?”

“The field team.” I replied, surprised to see them all the way out here. I pointed over to the left of the two men, the one who was hunched over and covered in dirt with his purple hair tied in a ponytail. “That there is Lacus, codename Junkrat.”

I shifted my finger and pointed to the taller one of the two, who was shirtless and bulkier than the other. “That’s Rene, codename Roadhog. The two of them are what Krul likes to call “The Cleanup Crew.” We have to stay out of sight, we’re not in any shape to fight them.”

“What do you mean by “Cleanup Crew” Mika?” I began biting my lower lip, feeling reluctant to share the information. “Usually they’ll assist a main agent in the mission if the Sanguinem believes there will be too many witnesses. They’re sent to “clean up” if you catch my drift.”

“I do.”

The two of us stared at them and watched, listening into their conversation.

“Whoa boy, we hit the big time, haven’t we Roadhog?”

“Sure.”

“Sure? Is that really all you can say? We got promoted! We’re moving up in the ranks! Soon “The Cleanup Crew” will be forgotten in the past!”

“You do realize that the only reason we were sent on this mission alone is because Widowmaker refused to do the mission himself.”

“Details Roadhog, details. We take care of this Mercy chick and we’re in Krul’s good books! While her ‘prized pet’ gets the slump. Ha ha!”

Yuu looked over at me. I could tell he was concerned the term “prized pet” being used to describe me, but it worried me none. I’ve known this since I was a kid. Yuu-chan may have been lonely but at least his adoptive mother held genuine concern for him. Whereas with me, I was treated more as a possession like a pet. I was only praised and spoiled when I did a good job. When I didn’t, it was nothing but fear and intimidation. That is why I had always excelled in my missions, so that I would not need to experience her threats first hand.

“Hand me my sniper.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Yuu complied to my request. I balanced on the rock and took aim, shifting between the two targets. I had to think this through. Whoever I shot first will alert the other. With Yuu-chan and I being so weak from our previous encounter, I had to think which one we had better chances dealing with. Roadhog is large and easy to land hits on but he was quite durable. Junkrat is smaller and nimbler but would be easier to take down.

“Aren’t they your allies?” Yuu asked.

“Doesn’t matter. The current mission at hand is to get to the healer. They’re in the way. It’ll be beneficial to us to eliminate them while we have the chance.”

“Stop.” I overheard Roadhog say as he paused in his movements, holding his hand up. He remained still and motionless. It seemed as if he detected us somehow.

“What’s wrong?”

“Someone else is here.”

I set my sights on Roadhog. He posed the biggest threat as of right now. I would trust that Yuu had enough energy left in him to help deal with Junkrat and his nimbleness.

He began to turn around, I was about to squeeze the trigger and send a bullet flying through his head but I noticed he had something in his hands. A chain hook. He’d be able to grab me before I’d be able to take the shot.

“Hey there you two!” Yuu said, as he flashed into his sights and concealing me. All I could see in my scope was his tight butt. I retracted the gun and began rolling to a different area where I could get a better shot at them.

“Hey Roadhog, is he our target?”

“Does he look like a woman to you?”

I peered up from my new spot and saw that Junkrat was examining him up and down. For some reason, I wanted to make him my primary target rather than Roadhog for that sole reason.

“I don’t know. His suit is pretty tight and feminine.”

“Hey come on now guys.” I rolled my eyes as I glanced over and saw that Yuu was looking himself over. “It’s not that feminine.”

“What is your business with us?”

“I heard you wanted to pay my dear friend Mercy a visit.” He pulled out his guns, ready to shoot them. “And I wanted to welcome you personally.”

“Oh hoh, this is going to be fun, won’t it Roadhog!”

“It will be inde-“ He couldn’t finish that thought, it was impossible for him thanks to my sniper bullet piercing his skull and hitting his brain.

He dropped to the ground, completely devoid of all life. Junkrat watched in horror, seeing the reality of what became of his ally and friend. He looked around, panicking. “Shit! They have a sniper!”

I took my aim at him, but his frantic movements were too much for me to get a good aim on him. Luckily, Yuu was down there and could solve that problem for me.

“Did you forget about me love?” he said, as he dashed forward, shooting his guns at Junkrat. Unfortunately for Yuu, Junkrat’s nimbleness worked to his advantage and he was able to leap out of the way just in time.

Yuu chased after Junkrat, never letting up with his fire against him. However, Junkrat was too unpredictable for Yuu to get a decent shot in, as well as myself. If I had known how much trouble Junkrat would be, I would’ve shot him first instead of Roadhog. I regretted my decision but it was too late now.

I noticed something odd on the ground just behind Junkrat’s trail. I moved my sniper over to it and examined it.

“Oh no.” I realized too late what it was. An explosive device. I was going to shoot it, but Yuu stepped on it as soon as I was about to. Junkrat activated the detonator as soon as he saw that Yuu was in place and it exploded, sending Yuu flying high in the sky with critical damage to his lower body. Luckily, however, Yuu used his powers to rewind himself and heal his body back to his previous state.

He used his arm and brushed sweat off his forehead. “Whew, that was a close. Can’t do that again for a while now.”

“Over here!” Junkrat taunted, in front of the doorway of an abandoned gas station. I set my sights on him once more. He was dancing about, I wasn’t able to get a good enough lock on him. I would have to either have to incapacitate him or get lucky. Either way, the chances for failure were high as he knows of a sniper’s presence.

Junkrat entered the building, with Yuu following closely behind. I watched the entrance, hoping that if Junkrat leaves, I’d be able to get him. I would have to be careful however, in case Yuu-chan was the first to leave.

I waited patiently for them to exit, but neither one did. I dropped down my visor and surveyed the area, looking for the two of them. I noticed one was inside the gas station, appearing to be immobile. From the body shape, it appeared it be Yuu-chan. It looked like he was tugging at his leg for some reason. Was he caught in a bear trap?

I suddenly began hearing revving noises coming North-East from where I was looking. I shifted my sights and examined. It was Junkrat, holding up with a large tire covered with… oh no.

He pulled a cord back and set the tire loose, heading towards the gas station. I took that moment of recoil and shot him straight in his head, leaving him lifeless.

I was too late to stop the tire though. It detonated on its own as soon as it touched the station. The explosion engulfed the entire building and what was left was engulfed in flames.

I surveyed the area in a panic, searching for any signs of Yuu-chan. Perhaps he made it out or something in time? I looked around and surveyed every inch I could. I even used my visor to scan for any life signs but there was none.

I turned around behind me, hoping that he was there and was going to mock me for showing concern for someone who I originally didn’t want to work with, but he wasn’t there. There were no signs of him at all. The explosion had gotten him after all. Yuu was dead.


	8. Motivation

“Heroes never die!” an angelic and feminine voice called out. The now up-in-flames gas station began emitting a bright light, one that was different from the fire. I checked through my scope once more and spotted someone was inside, appearing to be alive and well. They quickly came out from the burning building and what seemed like a flash. He looked up at me and held up his index and middle finger at me, smiling. I couldn’t believe it, Yuu was alive!

“Don’t. Move.” the same feminine and angelic voice from earlier said from behind me. This was the fifth time now and I was getting annoyed that it was becoming a trend.

I remained motionless as per their request and waited. Yuu was beside me suddenly, and he began talking the person down. “Don’t worry, he’s a friend.”

“What friend aims a sniper at their friend?”

“Umm… a friend who cannot see too far without it?” I waited patiently, seeing if that idiotic excuse would work. I heard a sigh, followed by what sounded like a gun being placed in its holster. “Fine.”

I spun around and examined the person that had captured my flank once more. She was dressed completely in white, with metallic wings emitting from her back. Atop of her blonde, pigtailed head was a glowing halo. If one didn’t know any better, one could say she was an angel.

“Mika, this is Mitsuba Sangu, aka Mercy. She’s the healer I was telling you about before. Mitsuba, this is my old friend Mika, codenamed Widowmaker.”

“So,” she offered her hand to me. “I get to meet the infamous Mika that I heard so much about back during our training days. A pleasure.”

I didn’t take her hand, but merely examined it. I had a question that was burning in my mind. “Back there, how is that possible?”

She looked at me, her face expressing a mix of both stun and confusion. “Angels exist in this world you know, and I’m Yuu’s personal guardian.”

“Actually,” Yuu interjected. “She’s one of Mahiru’s old test subjects. You see, while I have a demon fused with me, she has an angel infused in her that gives her abilities to magically heal anyone of anything, even death.”

“Yeah, but with the amount of times I had to revive you during our training days, I could still be considered your own personal guardian angel Yuu.”

“Pfft, whatever. Like I need one. I have Mika looking out for me, isn’t that right Mika?”

I remained silent. He was correct but also false. I wouldn’t be around forever to protect him, much as he liked to believe. I only had a week and a half left of my time off, before I would have to go back to the Sanguinem and resume regular assassination work.

“Some job he was doing. I had to come and save your butt yet again. Which, by the way, has never looked cuter. I’m jealous.”

Yuu scowled. “The two guys from earlier said I looked feminine, that’s not true right?”

“With you, it works, trust me Yuu. I wish I could pull off and outfit as tight as that.”

“Yeah but-“ I coughed to interrupt the conversation at hand. They both looked at me and I began pointing at my leg that still had a hole in it, which was now filling up with dirt and becoming prone to infection. “Oh right, let’s go getcha healed up buddy.”

***

I had now found myself inside a rather run down and beat up old home, appearing as if it had been burned down many times in the past. The one named Mercy said when we originally entered “It may not be much, but it’s home.”

I looked down at my leg. Admittedly, I was impressed by the job she had done. It was as if my leg was brand new. These powers of hers were impeccable. It was no wonder why she was an ex-Moon Demon agent. It was fortunate too that the Sanguinem hadn’t made her a priority target. With talents as impressive as hers, one would think she would be targeted early. That was probably why though they didn’t wait any longer and wanted to send me out to eliminate her.

“So, have you heard from the others recently?” Yuu asked as he sipped his tea. Mercy entered the room and placed a cup of the same in front of me, before taking her seat. “Kimizuki is in Hollywood, Shinoa went to South Korea to fight some threat that they’ve been struggling with, and I haven’t heard from Yoichi in a while. Guren’s as busy as always too.”

“Is that it?” Yuu asked, his face full of concern. The blonde gripped the sides of her outfit, tensing up. “Unfortunately, yeah. Everyone else is…”

“You don’t need to say it Mitsuba. I know, trust me, I know.” He leaned in and embraced the woman with a tight hug. She returned the gesture, while sobbing. The sight of this disgusted me, so I focused my attention on my cup of tea. I took a sip from it, immediately spitting it out as there was a very strong taste in it that was not native to the beverage. The two looked over and laughed at my actions. “I should have warned you Mika, Mitsuba spikes everything she makes.”

“Hey! Alcohol is a good additive! It makes everything taste better!”

“Everything?” I inquired. I looked around the room. Suddenly, it all made sense why the home looked like it had been burned down multiple times.

“Yeah, back during our Moon Demon days, we used to call her No Mercy. She would get all of us drunk and heal us the next morning. Boy was it a wild wide.”

“But never before missions.” she added. Yuu laughed. “As much as I tried to convince you.”

“With your powers, you can’t get drunk. You’ll stumble over your feet before you even take a shot! Not that you don’t do that anyways.”

The two of them laughed some more, increasing the awkwardness for me in the room. It’s times like this where I had wished that I had put a bullet in Yuu’s head any chance I got, so I wouldn’t have to bear through this. However, I will say that seeing Yuu so happy was… different. I remembered that when we were kids, he would do nothing but scowl and keep to himself, giving shorthanded replies. I was usually the one who would smile and crack jokes. Boy how times have changed and tables have turned.

“Reaper.” I spoke up, capturing Mercy’s attention. “Do you know anyone by this codename?”

She placed her finger on her chin, making a humming noise as she thought. “Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Tall, older man with black hair. Very intimidating.”

She looked over at Yuu, who shook his head. “Not Guren.”

“Sorry, except for Guren and our idiot over here, I don’t know anyone else with black hair.”

“I appreciate the attempt at least.”

“Mitsuba,” Yuu said, turning the conversation back towards them. “There’s only a few of us left. We’re divided, vulnerable. I want you to come with Mika and I.”

“Come with you, Yuu.”

“Right… yeah… Come with… me. I want to ensure your safety, everyone’s safety.”

She appeared to be hesitant in the offer. “I don’t know Yuu. You know what’ll happen if they catch us all together.”

“But this isn’t Moon Demon business or anything! This is family sticking together and ensuring their survival. Come on Mitsuba!”

“Go where, and do what Yuu? Have you thought that far ahead yet?!” He looked surprised by her sudden outburst. “You haven’t, have you. I can’t deal with us being disbanded a second time. Especially having to say goodbye to her a second time.”

“Her?” I questioned, genuinely curious at the sudden appearance of a “her”. Yuu turned to me. “Her and Shinoa used to be a thing.”

“I see.”

He turned back to Mercy and placed his hand on her knee. “Mitsuba, come on, are you really going to stay out here alone, hiding in fear? Admittedly that’s what I used to do, but with our lives now in jeopardy, we have to stick together like a family!”

“… Bring them back first. I can take care of myself until then.”

Yuu’s eyes widened and brightened hearing her decision. He embraced her once more and smiled. “You bet I’m going to bring them all back! Just you wait and see Mitsuba!”

***

After more reminiscing between the two old comrades and me trying to deal with the alcohol with tea in it, the two of us decided to take our leave. We made it back to the helicopter without any trouble. It was Yuu’s turn to drive. He looked at me as I climbed in. “So we have four places to go Mika. Hollywood, South Korea, Antarctica, and Guren’s Lab. You get to pick which one we go to first.”

“Reaper.” I stated, staring Yuu-chan in his eyes. These locations were irrelevant to my current objective. The deal between the two of us was that I help him with his comrades and he helps me track down and kill Reaper. It was time we got back onto his trail, we didn’t have much more time to waste.

“Got any leads then?” he asked. I looked away from him, unable to bring myself to answer. “So I’ll ask again, where do you want to go first? Maybe we’ll find a lead where we go. I promise that as soon as we’ll get a lead, we’ll follow it.”

Hollywood, South Korea, Antarctica, and some secretive lab. Some choices he was giving me.


	9. Soldier: 76

Hollywood, USA: The current location of the one known as Shiho Kimzuki, codename Soldier: 76. This was the location I had selected when Yuu offered me the choice as to where to go. I did not care for anyone that were at any of the locations. The sole reason why I chose Hollywood was because it was close to our current location. It is most beneficial to our current agenda to visit the places that were closest to cut down on travel time. He agreed with me.

When I had selected Hollywood, Yuu grimaced but proceeded anyways. He related to me that he and Soldier: 76 are not the best of terms. Their backstory is as follows:  
During Yuu’s time training for the Moon Demon initiative, he and Soldier: 76 were rivals, always competing with one another, even on the battlefield. Apparently Soldier: 76 brought out the worst in Yuu also. Despite this, Yuu still considered him a close friend and vice versa. When the initiative disbanded, he had plans to stay alongside Yuu and form a mercenary team. He had a sister who required constant medical attention, thus needing funding to pay for the hospital bills. The Moon Demon initiative originally paid for everything but with it being disbanded, the funds couldn’t be transferred.

The day before the two were about to leave and take a job, Soldier: 76 informed him that he was no longer going with him and going on his own. Yuu admitted that at the time, he was scared. Soldier: 76 was apparently the last person he had left in his life and he was leaving too. When words wouldn’t convince him to stay, Yuu said that he said some things that he shouldn’t have said and that was when they parted ways for good.

Admittedly, I was suspicious and curious of the motive behind Soldier: 76’s actions. From what Yuu told me, there was an ulterior motive. Nothing ever changes without reason, I was taught that by my mother. 

What had me even more curious and concerned was why Yuu providing me with this information. It was personal, sensitive information. I was going to be his enemy once again, and if presented with the opportunity, I would use it against them. He is such an idiot.

***

Thankfully, Hollywood was full of places for us to park. With it being home to many celebrities who could afford a helicopter to use casually, we had no trouble finding a place to land.

I questioned Yuu if he had any ideas as to where Soldier: 76 was specifically located, but my question was answered with a shrug which annoyed me. We would have to spend time searching through a large city, home to thousands, just to find one specific individual who may or may not be here anymore.

***

The two of us spent hours searching various locations for Soldier: 76 but to no avail. Fortunately, a sudden development potentially gave us a lead.

Noises, sounding much like gunshots, echoed throughout the city. Yuu wanted to dismiss it as filming for a movie, but I inspected just to make sure. Using my visor, I scanned the area where the shots were coming from and found a lone individual on a rooftop at one of the studios. It appeared as if they were in the middle of combat. I scanned for any other individuals that were around him, looking for what could have cameramen or stuntmen to shoot the scene, but there were none. Just that one individual. Curious.

“Let’s go.” I said to Yuu, lowering my visor. The two of us raced off to the rooftops and examined the scene. My eyes widened when I realized the situation was going on. It was a fire fight between two individuals. One was a man, heavily clad in blue body armour from neck to toe, a mask covering most of his face and carrying a large automatic rifle in his arms. The other was a familiar face. Draped completely in black with a white skull for a mask; it was Reaper.

I set my sniper rifle down and began taking aim at Reaper. It appeared as if he didn’t know we were here, which provided us the perfect opportunity to take him by surprise and take him down permanently.

Like always, Reaper’s movements were floaty and fierce. The armoured man kept shooting at him but to no success. Like Yuu’s and my bullets, they just phased right through his body. He would be vulnerable to my sniper soon, and I was more than determined to take the shot once it happens.

The man went to reload, which gave Reaper an opening. He used his twin guns and shoot the man in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Soon, the man was at the mercy of Reaper, having both of his guns now positioned at his head.

“No!” Yuu shouted, flashing over into the fight. I cursed underneath my breath, seeing as he gave away our presence thus losing the element of surprise. He shot at Reaper multiple times, but no bullet managed to hit its mark but I highly doubt that was what he was going for.

“You’re here.” I overheard Reaper say through Yuu’s communication headphone. I saw that he looked around the area, as if he was trying to find something… or someone. “Where is the other one?”

“Behind you bastard!” the armoured man cried out, shooting Reaper in his back and landing a direct hit. Smoke came out from the wound rather than blood. He turned around and faced the armoured man. “You’re going to regret that!”

“Forget about me?” Yuu said as he focused his fire on the wound, causing Reaper to cry out in pain. Now was my chance. I squeezed the trigger of my sniper and sent a speeding bullet directly at his head. I watched and waited as it made its way towards his head. I thought I had him.

But it was just a thought. Just as the bullet was about to pierce his head, he teleported away onto another rooftop. Seconds later, he teleported again. He was fleeing, either because he had to tend to his wounds or because he knew the odds were stacked against him. Either way, I cursed that he escaped from my grasp once more. We were so close.  
“Aren’t you pleased to see us!” I heard Yuu shout thanks to his headphone. I looked over and saw him waving at me, causing me to frown. I didn’t have the time or patience to be social. Reaper was getting away, he was weakened. Now was the time to strike! But there’s no chance I could keep up with him. The only resource I had at my disposal that could keep up with him was over on the other rooftop, smiling.

I shot my grappling hook and swung over to the two, joining them. The man and I shared a cautious look with each other.

“Mika, this is Kimizuki, the man I was telling you about.”

“Soldier: 76 to you.” he said, the response causing Yuu to develop a frown of his own. The soldier looked over at me. “What do they call you?”

“Widowmaker.” I replied.

“Suiting. If you’ll excuse me, I have unfinished business with a certain Reaper.” He turned around and took his leave. Before I could do it myself, Yuu called out to him, causing him to stop. “I do not have time for this!”

“Kimizuki listen, I-“

“Shut up.” he stated blankly. I noticed in the corner of my eyes that Yuu was curling his hands into fists. He appeared as if he was trembling too. My analysis was that he was trying to hold back frustration. “Get out of my sight.”

“You’re hunting Reaper, correct?” I asked, stepping forward a couple of steps and putting the focus on me instead. I don’t know why, but seeing Yuu like he was made me want to help relieve his stress through any means necessary. “I wish to join you. I have unfinished business with him as well.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“I was ordered to eliminate him and I intend on doing so.”

His eyebrows slanted. He walked up to me and grabbed my neck, squeezing it just enough that I felt discomfort, but not tight enough to be considered choking. Nevertheless, I raised my sniper up at him, intending on shooting him within a second’s notice if his grip did get tighter.

“Listen here blondie, that Reaper is mine and only mine. Understood?” I tried to stare him down but it was ineffective thanks to his mask. I doubt that even without it, it would’ve done much. “No silly mission is excuse enough to warrant a kill. Get in my way and you’ll share the same fate. Understood?”

The grip on my neck was immediately released, but not by his will. He was forced to let go, as he was being knocked to the ground thanks to a punch from Yuu. He stood over the pink haired man, his fists as tight as they can get. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you Kimizuki but I’ll knock some damn sense into you if I have to!”

He tossed away his gun and curled his hands into fists also, intent on fighting with Yuu. “Bad move idiot.”

He dashed at Yuu, who flashed away from the attack. He appeared behind him and knocked him to the ground once more. He rose up and tried to strike at Yuu again, but it was met with the same results. This continued on and on, until Soldier: 76 felt difficulty in getting back up. I felt it was time for me to intervene.

I stepped up to him and placed my sniper just above his forehead. “Listen, I do not know you nor do I care. To my sniper, you’d be just one more kill. But you’re more than that to him. So stop and listen.”

To my surprise, he grabbed the barrel of the sniper and pulled it even closer to his forehead. “Do it. Go ahead, so I can be with her.”

“Her?” Yuu asked, as he raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean Kimizuki.”

“You’re an idiot!” He took off his mask, revealing a hardened face covered in dried streams of tears. “Don’t tell me you forgot about her…”

“Who, Mir-“ He stopped and examined the soldier’s face, seeing that new tears were forming in his eyes. “Kimizuki, don’t tell me that she…”

“The day before we were going to go out on the mission, I went to visit her. I found her in a pool of her own blood with that man standing over her. She had two gunshots in her chest, the bullets matching the make of his guns.”

“So that’s why…” Yuu approached the man and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve helped!”

“You wouldn’t have understood.” he mumbled under his breath.

“I would’ve.”

“I LOST THE REST OF MY FAMILY THAT DAY!”

“SO DID I!” Hearing that caused Soldier: 76 to pause, easing his rage. Yuu continued. “You were the only family I had left Kimizuki. We may not have been on the best of terms but you were still family. And you left, without even giving me a reason. I was hurt, that’s why I said all those things I did. I thought I could rely on you, but you left me alone. I can tell too you felt alone.”

“Shut up.”

“You know I’m right.”

The pink haired man looked at me. “Pull the trigger. Do it.”

I’d be lying if I said I was tempted. A kill is a kill after all. I knew Yuu wouldn’t approve though, and it was not my way as well. I only shoot targets and those who interfere with targets. And Soldier: 76 was none of them.

I retracted my sniper and placed it on my back. “Get up. You look pathetic for a soldier.”

He glared at me but complied with my command. Yuu took a couple of steps closer to him. “Kimizuki, listen, our family’s being taken away from us one by one. I’m rounding everyone up at Mitsuba’s place, making sure we all stay safe and protected. You couldn’t have saved Mirai, you couldn’t have saved Akane, Goshi, Narumi or the others but you have a chance to help protect us. Do you want to avenge her murder or protect what you do have?”

“… Who all have you rounded up?”

“So far, just Mitsuba and…” he turned over and looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at the gesture, causing him to sigh. “And myself.”

The soldier reached into a compartment into his armour and pulled out a card and handed it at Yuu. “Give me a call when we’re all rounded up. I’ll be there. For now though, I’m on a manhunt.”

“I’m coming with you.” I said, taking to his side. “We have a mutual enemy and a mutual objective.”

“I work alone.”

“As did I.” I looked over at Yuu. “Having someone at your side can help cover your weaknesses which is beneficial to the mission objective.”

“Mika, what about-“ I raised my hand, causing him to pause. I looked back at him and glared. “Yuu-chan, remember. Reaper is my only objective, the only thing I care about. I haven’t any time to waste with hunting your comrades. I am going with him and that is final.”

I felt a sharp pain jolt throughout my body, strongest at the back of my head, causing my mind to go blank. Quickly, all I began to see was blackness. I fell to the ground and passed out.


	10. Memories Of The Past

_“Wow! Is this your home?” I asked as I entered the large mansion. It looked so big and beautiful. It was so clean and fancy. There was a large crystal chandelier hanging above._

_I looked up at the woman whose hand I was holding as she answered me. “Why yes Mikaela. This is your home now too. So long as you make me happy.”_

***

_“Faster! Faster!” she called out. I tried to summon up all the energy I could and sprint forward but my lungs were giving out on me and I collapsed to the ground, exhausted and out of breath. She came over to me, her shadow looming over my body. I didn’t need to look up to know that she was not pleased. “The target’s escaped.”_

_“S-sorry Mom. I-I’m doing my best.”_

_“Your best isn’t good enough. The Sanguinem will toss you out on the streets before you even know it if you don’t shape up.” A towel dropped in front of my face. “Wipe up. We’ll continue tomorrow.”_

***

_“I’m leaving Krul.” I said, with my suitcases in hand. She had her back against me, appearing to be reading some papers. “I thank you for all these years of hospitality you’ve provided for me but I cannot be their pawn anymore.”_

_“They’ll kill you, you know.” She put the papers on her lap and spun herself around so she was now staring at me. “You won’t live long on the streets.”_

_“I’m willing to take that risk.” I turned around, intending on leaving the mansion for good. The doors slammed shut thanks to an automatic device Krul kept near her desk. I turned around. “What?”_

_“Mikaela, I know I haven’t been the best mother but I do care for you. I do not wish to see you killed. If I wasn’t a part of this organization, things would’ve been different, please understand.”_

_“Why did you even adopt me in the first place, huh?” She looked away, guilt appearing to flood her. “I had a perfectly happy home at the orphanage with my friends and family! It may not be lavish as this mansion is but at least I was happy and not being trained as an assassin!”_

_“Why you ungrateful!” She rose up in frustration but she quickly calmed herself and sat back down. “You want to know the truth Mika? My biological clock is ticking. Thanks to our line of work, I can’t afford to get close to anyone. At the same time, I’m forbidden to have intercourse with anyone in fear of pregnancy. If I do become pregnant they’ll terminate both me and the baby. That’s why I adopted you. You looked full of hopes and dreams like I once used to have. It wasn’t until too late that I learned that adoption was forbidden also. As it wasn’t something they had considered would happen before, the higher ups decided to let it slide under the condition that I train you as an apprentice. Now do you understand Mikaela?”_

_My lips trembled. This was a lot to absorb, almost too much for me to handle._

_Krul rose up from her desk and placed her hand on my shoulder. “I’m genuine when I say I do love you son, and that’s why I can’t let you go off on your own. I’d be devastated if something were to ever happen to you. That’s why I’m training you so hard to be perfect, so you won’t be eliminated both on the field or by their hands. Understand?”_

***

_My arms were shaky. I felt acidic fluids churn in my stomach, about to rise up but I had to fight through them._

_My finger was trembling, hovering just above the trigger. Seeing the sight I was seeing… I don’t think I was able to do it. It… it was looking at me with beady but innocent eyes. I really don’t think that I-_

_“Mikaela!” she snapped, causing me to lose focus. “An assassin must not show any emotion. They cannot be sympathetic to their target. They must be a cold and heartless killer. That’s why you must kill this chicken without showing any emotion. Understood.”_

_My heart began to race as I saw the animal through my scope. I didn’t want to do this but… I had no other choice. It was either it or me._

_I took and deep breath and closed my eyes. I quickly squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet at the chicken’s way. I heard a large yelp come from it, then nothing. I did it… I killed a poor innocent chicken. I felt vile and disgusting and hated myself for it…_

_I opened my eyes and saw Mama Krul was staring me right in my face, with a look of disapproval. “I saw emotion.”_

_She clicked her fingers, summoning her silver-haired slim assistant, who placed a new chicken in the pen, right next to the dead one. “We’re going to keep doing this over and over again until you get it right. Understand Mikaela?”_

***

_“Graduation Day, I’m so proud!” the petite woman rushed in and wrapped her arms around me. I stood tall and firm, not moving a muscle or returning the gesture._

_She pulled away from me and looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “Now, Widowmaker, now that your training is complete, I have some news for you. I’ve been promoted in the company, which means I won’t be around any longer. But I’ll still keep in touch though. I hope you’re not too heartbroken…”_

_My eyes lowered so that I had clear sight of her. “What is my first mission?”_

***

I awoke in a jolt, gasping for air. I checked my surroundings and found myself in the helicopter once more. I turned over to see that Yuu was piloting the vehicle. He turned to me and smiled. “Morning Sleeping Beauty!”

“What… what happened.” I said as I held my head. I felt a large pain shoot through my head and it was getting worse by the second.

“Kimizuki knocked you out when you’re weren’t looking. You were so insistent on leaving with him that it was the only way he thought of where you’d accept his answer of no.” He began to laugh. “You know, you need to rethink the sniper business. You are so terrible at watching your back.”

“Says the person who relies on someone else to bail him out of death when he screws up.” I turned my head and looked out the window, watching as we travelled across the seas. I wasn’t pleased with the current situation I was in but I was unable to argue. It was too late to turn back now. “What about Reaper?”

“Dunno. Kimizuki’s on his trail, don’t worry. I made him promise to call us if he finds anything out. Chances are he won’t though, just to prepare you. He’s always been the type to shoot first and ask questions later.”

“You’re the type that does both, loudly.” I mumbled underneath my breath. I sighed and audibly said to him, “So, where are we going?”

“Going to pay a visit to Guren.” He looked behind him, where my sniper rifle was apparently kept. “You need ammo, right?”

I shrugged. “More doesn’t hurt.”

“Guren’s a master arms developer. He used to create weapons for the Moon Demon Initiative all the time. Now he just sits in his lab and creates prototypes. Who knows though, you might find something you like, something better than that sniper rifle of yours.”

“We’ll see.”


	11. Genji and Zenyatta

It was dark as Yuu and I entered the seemingly abandoned lab that belonged to one Guren Ichinose. It appeared to be run down, as if it hadn’t been used in ages. I questioned Yuu if we were in the right location but he assured me that this was indeed the location where they would find him. I began to wonder if perhaps this man had moved to another location and not informed anyone.

“Welcome.” a voice echoed from the shadows. A light came on and revealed a lone figure, standing before us. My eyes narrowed as I recognized who it was. Silver hair, with floating orbs around their body. It was Zenyatta.

“Yuu-chan. I think we were had again.” I said as I bit my lowered lip. I had not expected to encounter Zenyatta so soon. Ever since our first encounter in Nepal, I was trying to devise strategies of how to deal with him. I came up with a few but I hadn’t the right equipment or time to prepare.

“Shinya! Don’t do this!” Yuu said, as he shielded me from Zenyatta’s sight. The two stared each other down. I readied my sniper to prepare for the inevitable conflict.

At the corner of my eye, I noticed a twinkle from the shadows. I was about to call out to Yuu, but before I could, something swiftly dashed out from the darkness and pinned Yuu down to the ground. Upon examination, it appeared to be a cyborg with a black exterior and yellow cybernetic detailing.

I aimed my sniper down at the mystery assailant but had to leap out of the way of orb projectiles being shot by Zenyatta. “Do not forget about those who are right in front of you.”

I began running around the lab, dodging the orbs that were shot at me seeing as it was all I could do. I tried many times to shoot Zenyatta as he conjured up more orbs, but the reload time was quicker than my sniper’s prep time. The best I could do was lay down auto fire rounds that he was able to dodge with ease.

“Let me go! Guren! Let go!” I heard Yuu shout, still pinned by the cyborg now identified as Guren. I turned my attention over to them for a split second, which was more than enough of an opportunity for Shinya to strike. I cried out in pain as one of the orbs made direct contact with my arm, burning a new hole in my body. I was forced to drop my weapon as I used my healthy arm to cover the wound.

Yuu heard my shout of pain and began flailing about wildly, trying to break free from Guren’s grasp. I noticed on the cyborg’s back was a pair of swords. He appeared to have his attention completely fixated on Yuu. I dashed over to them, while dodging more projectiles from Zenyatta, and unsheathed one of the swords.

I closed my eyes and held my breath as I let my instincts kick in, so that I could use my conscious mind to not focus on the pain my arm was feeling. I waited, before finally hearing from my foe, “Have you no shame?”

“Mika! Don’t!”

I opened my eyes and found myself standing behind Guren with the blade up to his throat. Both Yuu and Zenyatta’s faces were pale, seeing this sight. Apparently my instincts thought I was too weakened to deal with Zenyatta one on one, so I made myself play dirty. It’s what Krul taught me during one of my lessons after all, if you’re backed into a corner, do whatever means necessary to ensure your survival. Apparently this worked as Zenyatta refused to continue attacking.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” a deep voice echoed, coming from the person in front of me. He rose up confidently, the blade still up to his throat. He was trying to call my bluff. I did not wish to harm one of Yuu’s old friends while he and I were still allies but I wouldn’t hesitate if it meant I would ensure my survival.

He reached for the other blade that was behind his back but I pressed harder against his neck, causing him to stop mid-reach. Now free, Yuu flashed in between Zenyatta and I and pointed his guns both at us. “Alright! This has gone on far enough! We are going to settle things once and for all! Drop your weapons! EVERYONE!”

I kept my eyes on Guren and Zenyatta and watched what they did. They both remained still, but eventually, Zenyatta was the first to comply to Yuu’s command. He plucked the necklace off of his neck and dropped it to the ground. Apparently that was the source of his orbs, it was good to know.

Seeing as the other complied, I let go of the sword and dropped it to the ground, freeing Guren from my clutches. The armour-clad man turned and looked at me. “Wise choice.”

“Good, good.” said Yuu, dropping his guns and dusting off his hands. “Now, let’s the four of us talk civilly. No gunfire. Understood?”

“Talk?” Guren asked, as he walked up to Yuu. He grabbed his head by his chin and lifted him up. “You’re not the same idiot who would charge in first and ask questions later. Who are you.”

“Everyone’s dying Guren! I don’t want anyone else to die! Especially from each other’s hands!”

“… You’ve grown.” He dropped Yuu to the ground and made his way to Zenyatta but not before saying to him, “I’m proud.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I wanted to work this in somewhere, but couldn't, but Guren/Genji has a special modified suit that negates Yuu's powers in situations like these. So don't worry, I didn't forget about using Yuu XD There's actually a lot of important details that I couldn't work in ^^;


	12. Meltdown

The four of us sat around a table in Guren’s living area. When Yuu formally introduced me to the armoured man, he asked me to call him by his codename: Genji. Yuu wanted to tell me the story of how he ended up stuck in that suit of armour, but Genji ended up telling me the story instead as he knew that Yuu would miss out on some crucial details.

As it turns out, Yuu was the reason he ended up like how he was in the first place. Back when Mahiru was still alive and experimenting with angels and demons, Yuu ended up being possessed by a demon before the incident when he disappeared to Hell. When this occurred, Genji wasted no time trying to help Yuu. Apparently the demon caused hellfire to surround Yuu like “some mystical cloak” as he put it. Despite this, Genji tried to bring Yuu back to his senses, having the hellfire spread onto his body in the process and giving him third degree burns.

To his recollection, as his body was being burned, he saw that Yuu was smiling and the next thing he knew, he felt something resembling claws dig into his back and crushed his spine. It was at that moment when Guren yelled in pain that Mahiru stopped the experiment and sent the demon back to Hell, taking Yuu along with it.

Feeling guilty for what had happened, Mahiru built a robotic suit of armour for him so that he could walk again, giving him enhanced agility and reflexes as an added bonus. He related that he was thankful for the armour because not only did it give him the gift of mobility once more but also because it concealed his appearance.

Zenyatta then interjected, trying to comfort the man. Apparently the two were best friends before the incident but afterwards, Zenyatta became a counselor for Genji to have him accept what he had become. He visits Genji both casually and professionally, and apparently Yuu and I had interrupted one of the more professional visits.

“This Mahiru Hiragi, what kind of woman was she?” I asked, sipping a cup of thankfully regular tea this time around. I don’t much care for the lives of my targets, but seeing her name mentioned so often peaked my curiosity.

The faces around the room went grim, at least between Yuu and Zenyatta’s. I was unable to tell what Genji’s was like.

“She was an ambassador to knowledge.” Zenyatta spoke first. “She used to stop at nothing to achieve her goals, always putting work first before everyone else.”

“It wasn’t until my incident that she opened up her eyes.” Yuu continued for him. “Seeing the condition that Guren was in, and then having me disappear made her turn over a new leaf. She never stopped inventing but she did it for the benefit of her friends. She was the one who made me the stabilizer.”

“The Government caught wind of this and tried to force her back into her old line of work.” Genji added. “She refused, we all took her side. They didn’t like that. That was when they disbanded the Moon Demon Initiative and made all activity regarding it illegal.”

“We were all forced to go our separate ways.” Yuu said, his arms and hands now trembling thanks to recalling the entire story. Genji took the tea away from him, probably in fear that the caffeine was working him up too much and continued for him. “She disappeared from all of our lives without a trace after that. We had no idea where she went. Shinya and I made it our mission to find her.”

“But unfortunately, the next we heard of her, she was on the news; with the words ‘assassinated’ or ‘dead’ following afterwards.”

I looked away, knowing that I was to blame for that incident. Yuu saw this and began patting my knee, trying to comfort me.

“After that day, Shinya and I decided to make it our goal to make whoever was responsible for Mahiru’s death pay dearly. Eventually, we found out it was you Mikaela Tepes that took her life.”

“When I learned that you had teamed up with our Yuu, I wasted no time setting up an ambush to try and take you down and to protect Yuu too”

I sighed. “Listen, I was just following orders alright? Haven’t you three ever done anything you weren’t fond of but had to because you were ordered to by your superiors?”

The room was silent, no one speaking a word. I could tell from this that I was right with my statement.

“Listen, there’s two sides to every mission and you all know this. That is why agents like us are needed. There is no right or wrong, just the objectives. I was merely carrying out my orders as instructed like any other agent in any other organization.” I sighed, and continued, feeling something burning in my chest and mind that wanted to get out. “You want to know the truth? I don’t even like this line of work! I was forced into it, with no escape! It was either kill or be killed! That’s the way the Sanguinem does things! I don’t have a choice in the matter!”

“Mika…”

I couldn’t explain the way I was carrying on. It was like I was a volcano, erupting with anger and frustration after remaining dormant for so long. What was strange was that it felt… good doing this and I didn’t want to stop.

“What do you three want from me? An apology? Fine! I’m sorry that I was adopted and forced into my line of work! I’m sorry that I killed your beloved Mahiru that you all hold so dear to you to make sure that I stay alive! I’m sorry that I couldn’t be a part of your ‘little family’ that disgusts me so! I’m so sorry that despite all the shit I’ve been through, I still want to live!” I turned and glared at Yuu, squinting my eyes at him. “And most of all, I’m sorry I ever crossed paths with you!”

The room was silent, no one saying a word. I rose up from my seat and made my way towards the exit, not wanting to spend another minute with those sorry excuses for agents. I didn’t know why I was feeling the way I did, but I just did and being around those three only worsened the feeling.

I grabbed my sniper off the floor and reached the exit. As was opening, I noticed that a trio of throwing stars were thrown at the wall beside me to capture my attention. I turned around and noticed the three of them, standing behind me in a V formation. I began clutching my gun, readying myself in case they wanted to fight.

“When we’re confronted by those whose lives were affected by our missions, we are more than willing to pay the price for our sins. But the question is, Mikaela Tepes, are you?”

I paused and thought about Genji’s words. I… I didn’t know how to answer it. I was taught to treat the target as just a target. Once I’m done with them, I never need to think about them ever again. But that wasn’t what was being asked of me. It’s whether or not I personally felt if I could pay for what I had done, and for that, I had no answer.

As soon as the door opened to the outside, I stormed out and made my way to the helicopter, swearing underneath my breath. I climbed into the driver’s seat and began starting the machine up, but as soon as I was about to lift off, I felt myself unable to. My hands starting shaking, I felt a warm liquid drop down my face. Tears… I was crying. Why was I crying? I… I didn’t understand.

“DAMN IT!” I smashed the dashboard as the tears grew intense. They began to sting my eyes, forcing them shut. Why… why was I like this? It didn’t make sense! My emotions left me long ago. I’ve done a lot of horrible stuff to a lot of people and never even shed a tear. So why now? Why was it coming back to me now?

“Mika.” A door shut beside me. I managed to open my eyes enough to notice a figure sitting beside. Thanks to the tears I couldn’t see who exactly it was, but I didn’t need to see to know who it was.

I wiped away some of the tears and confirmed the sight. It was indeed Yuu. He had a large brown duffle bag slumped over his shoulders. The appearance of it confused me but at this current moment, I didn’t care.

“Wh-what do you want Yuu-chan?”

“We still have a Reaper to fight, remember?” He smiled brightly at me, pretending as if nothing happened, but I couldn’t act that way. I turned away from him, half feeling ashamed and the other half not wanting him to see me in this state. He placed his hand on my shoulder and used his free hand to turn my head so I was facing him once more. “Mika, I hate seeing you like this. I can tell that this life is eating away at you. I know you, you’re better than this. It’s not too late to leave, and start over! We can protect you from the Sanguinem; make sure that you can still live but in happiness this time! You can be around people who truly love you! People like… people like…”

“Switch seats with me Yuu,” I interrupted, cutting him off before he could finish. “I’m taking a nap to clear my mind. Take us wherever, I don’t care. We’ll hunt Reaper when I’m feeling up for it.”


	13. Family and Love

_“Come on Yuu-chan.” I said, dropping my luggage and placing my hand on his shoulder. He refused to look at me but I was alright with it. I anticipated he’d be like this. It would be the last time he and I would see each other for a while after all. Yuu was never good at handling goodbyes and this was just the way he coped._

_I leaned into him and hugged him. “Don’t worry Yuu-chan, I’ll write and keep in touch! I may be going away but we’re still family and families stick together after all!”_

I was woken up by a chilly draft that had apparently leaked its way into the helicopter. Without a second thought, I flipped the switch for the heater.

I looked out the window; all I could see was white. White and cold… it was obvious Yuu was taking us to Antarctica, most likely to see this Yoichi friend of his. I only had myself to blame for this. I did say to him before I slept that I didn’t care where he took us.

I stretched my arms out, getting all of the kinks and stiffness that I acquired during my rest out. Yuu greeted me, but I didn’t return the gesture. I felt ashamed for what I had said to him the previous night, but he was treating it as if it was nothing. Admittedly, if someone said the same thing to me I would’ve treated it as nothing also. But this is Yuu we’re talking about. Never in my dreams would I imagine saying something so rotten to him. At least… my old self wouldn’t have said it to him.

I turned my attention to the duffel bag in the backseat, where my sniper was. I pointed at it and asked Yuu about its contents. “Weapons mainly. Guren let me take a few things from his lab just before I came with ya.”

“Such as…?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention. I just took whatever it looked like you could use.”

I arced my eyebrow. “Wait, what _I_ could use? Why didn’t you grab anything you could use?”

“Don’t need much. So long as I have my babies, I’m good. This reminds me too.” He flashed to the backseat momentarily. The helicopter began swivelling, having me take its helm temporarily until he flashed back. In his hands was a weapon that looked like a miniature rocket launcher. “Hold still Mika.”

Upon activation, the barrel of the weapon opened up and released a yellow stream of light that enveloped me. I felt a tingling in my shoulder, where my wound from the previous battle was. I watched as skin cells quickly reformed and cover it up. The beam dissipated as soon as it was completely closed; somehow that weapon completely healed me.

“How did it… what?” I asked, genuinely confused that such a weapon had that kind of capability. Yuu smiled as he tapped it against his forehead. “It’s something Guren was working on, based on Mitsuba’s abilities. Don’t tell him I took it though, it was still a prototype.”

“Wait, you used a prototype weapon on me, not knowing what the after effects are?” Yuu shrugged in response, causing me to roll my eyes. “Idiot.”

“He loved her you know.” he said, capturing my full attention. “Guren and Mahiru. I found out that they were together when I was stabilized, they weren’t like that before the accident.”

“I guess the accident brought them together?”

“More than likely. It broke his heart when the initiative disbanded, and it was broken worse when she was… you know.”

I didn’t say anything in response. I knew what he meant and didn’t want to delve into that topic once again, in fear that I would jump out of the helicopter and land in a freezing cold body of water.

“He carries on her work, to honour her memory. He’s not as bright as her, but he tries.”

“Are we going back for them?” I questioned, not because I cared about the two that I stormed out on previously but because I wanted to know if I had to deal with them again.

Yuu shook his head in response. “Not for a while. I’m going to give them some space, give them some time to accept you before bringing them back.”

“That’s not necessary.” I mumbled underneath my breath. As expected Yuu picked up on it and heard it. “Mika, I want you to be a part of this family. I don’t care if I have to drag you out from that little cave of yours multiple times. I’m not letting you out of my life a third time.”

“So I don’t get a choice anymore?” I glared at Yuu, who sighed in response. I scoffed at his words and turned my sights back towards the outside.

“Just, consider it, please?” I turned and saw that his face was one full of worry. Guilt filled me up inside once again. I turned back away and sighed. “Fine. I’ll consider it. Don’t get your hopes though Yuu-chan.”

“I hope you do accept Mika. Things haven’t been the same without you,” I felt his hand place itself on my knee before he continued. “But they’re a lot better now, now that you’re back in my life.”


	14. Antarctica

Antarctica, an uninhabitable land of ice that apparently is the location of Yuu’s friend Yoichi Satome. I was dreading visiting this location, not because I had other objective that I wanted to focus on but because… my outfit was not made for this kind of climate. The thigh high heels make it difficult to traverse the snow, and my exposed chest was more than susceptible to the cold. This wasn’t my first trip to this location but it was the first where I wasn’t prepared, outfit wise. I scolded Yuu for not having brought any jackets or winter wear for us but he just shrugged it off. I was at least thankful that he parked near the base where the last known location of Yoichi was.

The outside of the base was exactly how one expected it to be: large, steel reinforced plating, and covered in ice. According to the dossiers, the base was used to study and help prevent climate change. There is one on each continent where they perform their own research. This one focused on the colder climates, trying to find solutions to help prevent melting of the ice in cold climates.

I questioned Yuu as to why his friend would choose such a cold and desolate place to perform his work. I originally thought it was because he wanted to get away from civilization and his friends, go as far away as possible from it all. However, as it turns out, Yuu’s answer was completely different from my thoughts. “Yoichi likes penguins.”

I was speechless that of all the reasons why, it was penguins that drew him to this part of the world. I didn’t argue with it, but I did think it was somewhat strange, which made me question as to what type of person this Yoichi would be.

The two of us stood in front of the large steel doors, waiting for someone to buzz us in. However, no one did which made me rather suspicious. I checked the electronic speakers next to the door and found that power wasn’t running to it.

“Yuu,” I called out, waving him over and show it to him. His face went white, seeing the sight. “Oh no, this is not good! Mika, this is not good at all!”

He didn’t need to explain to me how poor it was. Bases such as these rely on technology to function. If power were to ever be lost, it would prove to be a disaster. Doors would stay shut, sealing anyone unfortunate enough to be inside from the outside world. On any other continent, it would just be a matter of finding an escape and calling for help. However, Antarctica was a different story. I would imagine they would have an electronically heating system to keep everyone warm. With it gone, it would only be a matter of time before its residents would freeze to death.

Yuu flashed back to the doors, having gone to the plane to retrieve something. In his hands was a small, circular object. He noticed I was examining it and held it up for me. “You know when I swiped some stuff for you Mika? Well, I may have took a little something for myself. These here are apparently called Pulse Bombs. Don’t know what they do but now’s as good of a time as any to find out!”

“Yuu, I don’t think-“ Before I could finish, he tossed a couple of those so called Pulse Bombs onto the large doors. I began to hear a ticking sound coming from the objects. Before I knew it, I felt his arm wrap around my waist and were miles away from the doors.

The bombs detonated with a large explosion that would most likely be heard for miles, even though there was no one around to hear it. The aftermath of the explosion left a hole in the steel doors. It was large enough that Yuu and I could fit through thankfully.

The two of us raced inside the base and looked around. It was dark and silent. Yuu called out Yoichi’s name but there was no response at all. I found a parka by the entrance way that I immediately took as my own. It was a good thing I did, as I noticed my chest was beginning to turn blue from the cold. Any longer without something covering it up and I would’ve gotten frostbite.

“YOICHI! YOICHI!” Yuu continued to call out, flashing deeper into the base to check for his lost friend. I stayed behind and examined the area, looking for clues or something that could help restore the power.

Ten minutes later, after checking out various empty rooms, I found one particular room that caught my attention. In it were cryogenic stasis pods, eight of them to be exact. I called out to Yuu, who quickly joined up with me. He flashed into the room and began rubbing the frosted screens of the pods, trying to see if his friend was in them.

“He’s over here!” Yuu called, waving at the pod in the back right. I raced over and examined it. Inside of the pod was a young man with brunet hair, wearing a white and blue snowsuit with a gun in his hands. The presence of the weapon had me concerned but I elected to ignore it for now to figure out a way to unfreeze Yuu’s friend. Something like this is a delicate procedure, one wrong move could end his life before he awakes.

“How do we get him out?” Yuu asked, apparently no ideas coming to him either. I told him that I didn’t have any ideas either but I was working on it. Without electricity, there’s no way to open up the hatch and thaw him out. Perhaps restoring the power might work, but it might be out of our expertise. I was more attuned to cutting the power, while I believed Yuu relied on Mahiru or Genji for tasks such as these…

Before I had time to think of a proper way to get him out, I found Yuu sticking another one of his Pulse Bombs onto the pod, which stirred panic into me. “Yuu! What are you doing! We have to be careful or else Yoichi could die!”

“Oh.”

I was too late catching him, the ticking of the bomb had already begun. Yuu flashed us out of the explosion radius just in time, just as it detonated. I called him an idiot as we made our way back to the young man, hoping that his reckless antic didn’t cost us the only chance of getting him out alive.

From first glance, it appeared as if he was still asleep. However, his body began to drip water, beginning to thaw. The two of us watched to see if his consciousness was still intact.

For thirty minutes, we watched tirelessly as he thawed. Yuu was fearing the worst, but I managed to comfort him saying that it would take time for him to thaw. Suddenly, we noticed the corners of his mouth beginning to move and his eyelids tremble. He was waking up!

“Yoichi!” Yuu leaned in and began shaking his friend, trying to get him to awake faster, but I stopped him before anything happened. I imagined his body was sensitive and sudden motions like that might not work out to his favour.

“Yuu… Yuu-kun…” he mumbled. His eyes fully opened, finally seeing the two of us. His mouth curled into a smile at the sight of Yuu and he leaned in and gave him a hug. “Yuu-kun, it’s good to see you!”

“It’s good to see you too.” Yuu said as he returned the gesture, patting his friend on the back. I, myself, turned away and allowed the two a moment to themselves while they reunited. I turned back as soon as they broke off from their embrace. “Yoichi, this is Mika.”

“So you’re Mika! I’m glad I can finally meet you!” He stuck out his glove-clad hand at me, waiting for me to shake it. Although I was reluctant, I took it and shook it a few times to satisfy him. “It’s uhh… fortunate you’re alive. May I ask what your codename is?”

“Codename?” He tilted his head in confusion, having Yuu jump in and answer for him. “He doesn’t have one, he just goes by Yoichi on the field.”

I grimaced, my brow furrowing at the thought of this. This concept was… new to me, and made me uncomfortable. Usually everyone has a designated codename, it was proper procedure after all. Using one’s own name was completely out of my comfort zone. I accepted it for the time being though and changed the subject. “What happened here?”

“We were hit by a polar storm, it took us completely off-guard. We didn’t have time to prepare. It knocked out our power immediately, cutting off our communications to the outside and trapping us inside. We couldn’t find any way out, the windows were too strong for us to break.

We tried to wade it out, hoping that someone would take notice that we were off the grid but no one came. Our supplies were wearing thin and as time went on, we got colder and colder with no hope for heat. One of the other scientists decided it might be best if we froze ourselves to preserve our bodies until someone came.”

“Smart move.” I complimented. “I would’ve done the same.”

I turned my attention down to his gun. I pointed at it and asked him what it was. He held it up and smiled. “Oh, this? This is something the others were working on! It’s a climate control gun! So far, it’s only got one setting: cold. But it can do many things! Shoot icicles, make ice walls, you name it!”

“Interesting,” I said, examining the gun. I was surprised that something like that could even be engineered in the first place. The scientists here must have been on the verge of some kind of breakthrough to protect the polar icecaps.

“Does it work?” Yuu asked as he swiped the gun. A pointy block of ice appeared in the barrel of the gun and immediately shot out when it completely formed, having enough recoil to send Yuu toppling over. Yoichi and I both laughed at the scene, causing Yuu to blush out of embarrassment and give Yoichi back the gun.

“Well, well, well.” a deep voice echoed. The three of us turned to inspect the source. There, at the doorway of the room was a shadowy but familiar figure. “It looks like my job just got a little bit harder, but more interesting.”


	15. A Change In Attitude

Without wasting any time I grabbed Yoichi’s gun and shot it at Reaper, causing a wall of ice to appear in front of the hooded man, blocking him from us. I can’t explain how I knew to use it, it was just on instinct. Luckily, it bought us some more time.

“Who is that?” the brunet asked, bewildered. Yuu and I grimaced at each other.

“Codename Reaper, real name unknown. He’s been trying to assassinate your former comrades and friends. Yuu and I have crossed paths with him a couple of times before.”

I tossed the gun back at Yoichi and readied my sniper for the upcoming battle. Yuu brought out his twin pistols and stood ready. “He must be after you Yoichi. Stay behind us.”

I could hear gunshots from the other side of the wall. He was trying to break through but the ice was sturdy and refused to cave. Cracks began to form but that was as far as Reaper could get with the wall.

Suddenly, the gunshots stop, which sent unease swirling into the three of us. Shadows started oozing from the newly fresh crack in the ice wall. I guess that was all Reaper needed to get through.

The shadows started swirling around us, causing us to back up into one another, watching and waiting for him to strike. As they flowed, we could hear ghastly words echo from them. “Now you’re trapped here!” “There is no escape!” “Die!”

I activated my thermal scanner to see if I could get a lock and clear shot on him, but like usual, I was on my own. I don’t know why it always does this around him, do his powers mask his heat signature? If so, I’d have to make some adjustments.

I began to hear a crackling sound coming from behind me. I looked over my shoulder and noticed that Yoichi was using his gun to blow out a stream of frost onto the shadows, causing them to freeze up.

As soon as a good chunk of ice had trapped the shadows, they floated away from us, having Reaper to take physical form a good distance away from us. I saw that his right hand and cloak tail were frozen over. It appears as if Yoichi’s climate control gun would be our way of finally killing Reaper once and for all!

“Focus fire!” I commanded, having Yuu and I shoot at Reaper. His body turned ghastly, having the bullets go through him as expected. I turned my gaze towards his frozen hand and noticed it still appeared to be solid. I aimed my sniper at the spot and shot at it, causing the ice to shatter and Reaper to cry out in pain, forcing him to take physical form.

“Son of a-“ he cried, holding his hand. He turned at me. “You’re going to pay for that brat!”

“Go Yuu!” I shouted, having him flash behind the man and shooting him in the back multiple times. He cried out even more, as his wounds sizzled from the fresh wounds. He swiftly disappeared and reappeared behind Yoichi, intent on shooting him, but Yoichi reacted quick enough and dodged the gunfire. In response, he sent a stream of freezing cold air Reaper’s way, causing him to freeze up.

“Go Yoichi go!” Yuu cheered, as the two of us watched Yoichi turn Reaper into a living popsicle.

He tried to teleport again and flee, but he was unable to. His body couldn’t move thanks to the ice. The shadows couldn’t do anything to help him and the ice was forming quicker than his guns were destroying it. Eventually, they began to surround his arms, making him unable to do anything at all. It was just a matter of a few more seconds until he was frozen completely in a block of ice.

“Yoichi, you did it!” Yuu raced over to his brunet friend and wrapped his arms around his neck and shoulders as a form of affection. Yoichi laughed as the two celebrated the victory over the masked man.

I, however, approached the ice block and aimed my sniper directly at his head. He was vulnerable, unable to phase and miss my shot now. All it took was one bullet then my mission would be accomplished and I can go home.

“Are you really going to do it?” I turned and saw a serious-looking Yuu looking at me. I nodded my head at him as a response. “You know Mika, as part of the Moon Demon Initiative, we were taught to neutralize first if possible, kill only if necessary. We bring our targets to justice, not to assassinate them. But you’re not a part of the Moon Demon Initiative so I won’t stop you.”

I set my sights back on Reaper with Yuu’s words in mind. I wanted to ignore them and take the kill. All it took was one shot, just one shot from my sniper and it would end it all. But… something about Yuu’s words got to me. Normally I would kill without a second thought, just get it over and done with… but now… why now all of a sudden, after all this time with this target do I hold back?

I held my breath, and pressed lightly on the trigger of my sniper, intending on squeezing it. I wanted to take the kill, I needed to take the kill! That was the mission objective after all! But… but…

I couldn’t do it.

I swung my gun over my shoulders and turned my back at Reaper. Both Yoichi and Yuu smiled, happy seeing the decision I made. I was glad that they were happy because I felt disgusting inside. I was trained to be the ultimate assassin, but I’m far from it. What kind of assassin hesitates to take a kill, much less turn his back on one? Still though… it was kind of relieving not doing it. It felt like a part of me deep down inside was thanking me for it. It felt warm… and comforting.

I turned to Yuu. “Meet me half way. Call Soldier: 76 and inform him of Reaper’s location. Let him do what he wants with him. Deal?”

“Deal!” he responded with a large grin.

It was odd… but there was another part inside of me that was telling me that the kill was not mine to take. Maybe that’s another reason why I didn’t do it. Deep down I must have realized that there was someone more deserving of killing him than I was. When Yuu spoke about “justice”, that must’ve been what had awoken that part.

The ice wall that was blocking our exit shattered finally, allowing us a path to go free from this place. Just as I was about to step out the door from the pod room, I heard words echo around me. “You’ve gone soft Mikaela Tepes.”

I quickly turned around and saw that Reaper was no longer in his prison of ice. The three of us searched around for him, but all we could see were stray shadows coming from the corners of the room. Apparently Reaper wasn’t done with us yet.

“Yoichi! Ready your gun!” Yuu shouted, having the young man quickly comply to his command.

Yuu flashed in front of us, intent on scouting the areas that weren’t visible. I began walking up to the ice block, just to see if it was perhaps my eyes and ears playing tricks on me. I looked in and saw that it was completely empty.

In the reflection of the ice, I saw Yoichi behind me. A sudden swipe of light on the ice quickly changed the reflection, where I noticed that someone was behind him; holding two guns up to the sides of his head.

“Lookout!” I shouted, as I turned back to warn Yoichi.

“Die!”


	16. His Answer

Silence, that’s all there was coming from Yuu and I, silence. The only sounds being made were those of the helicopter blades above us and the splash of the icy oceans below us. He and I were in shock, unable to believe what happened. Yoichi… Yoichi was dead. Reaper… he killed him point blank.

Yuu and I were both blaming ourselves for his death. We could’ve saved his life but we didn’t. If it wasn’t for us, Yoichi would still be alive. If only I had taken the shot when I could, instead of backing down. Reaper was right, I did go soft. If only I shot him when I could… if only…

Yuu… he blamed himself for trying to talk me down from the taking the shot. He admitted as he cried over Yoichi’s body that he hoped I wouldn’t do it, that the old Mika would come through and spare him. He admitted that opened up his mouth when he shouldn’t have. He knew how dangerous Reaper was, but he still said it anyways and because of that his friend was dead.

We were both to blame for his death. What’s worse is that Reaper got away after that, saying that he accomplished his mission. The two of us didn’t bother chasing after him at the time. Instead, we sobbed over Yoichi’s body. Yuu had cradled it in his arms and kept saying to him that he was sorry. I just placed my hand on his heart and repeated the same words.

What had me confused was that this death, this one death was getting to me. I was trained to be hardened and not to feel any emotion especially sadness or sympathy for those fallen. Then… then why was I feeling it now? Every time I asked myself that, all my mind thought of as answers was “He was innocent” or “He didn’t deserve it”, which were all phrases that I was conditioned not to feel.

I turned to Yuu and saw that the streams of tears on his face were still fresh but he wasn’t making anymore weeping sounds. Perhaps he was coming to terms with it quickly? Or… perhaps he was thinking some negative thoughts. I hoped that the latter wasn’t the case.

“Yuu-chan-“

“South Korea.” he said, without moving from his position. South Korea was the location of the last known member of the disbanded Moon Demon Initiative that we haven’t visited yet. I inputted the location into the helicopter’s GPS and autopilot and allowed it to drive.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, wanting to comfort him, but he shrugged it off. I sighed. I can’t say I blame him for how he felt. He probably wishes he could be alone, and that we could’ve given Yoichi a proper send-off also, but neither of those were an option for him.

“Are you sure Merc-… Mitsuba couldn’t revive him?” I asked once more, the first time being back at the lab.

“I’m sure.” Yuu grumbled. “There’s a twenty second window where she can revive someone. I think we’re past that point now.”

The two of us returned to silence once again. A part of me inside didn’t like the silence and wanted to continue talking with him. Maybe it was a way for me to cope with these feelings I was having or maybe it was out of concern for him. Either way.

“Symmetra… Akane Vaswani, that’s the same Akane from our orphanage, right? Akane Hyakuya?”

Yuu nodded. “Yeah, she was adopted like you and I. She was taken to India and recruited into a program where they dealt with light construction and manipulation. She was one of the few that were able to control handle the technology. They put her to use, evil use. She thought she was benefitting mankind but she was naïve, brainwashed almost.”

“I see… sounds a bit familiar.”

“We were sent to take down her corporation. She stood in our way. It broke my heart to see us on opposite ends. Eventually I was able to talk her into joining our ranks. Didn’t last long though. That mission in India was our last mission before…”

“It was disbanded.”

Once again, Yuu nodded. “She disappeared after that. Without anywhere to go in India and the promise of a proper home turning out to be false, I bet she wanted to make a new home for herself by herself. Next time I heard of her was in the obituaries. Didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

“I’m… I’m sorry Yuu.” He huffed at my words. “You didn’t get to say goodbye either. Doubt you wanted to too.”

I wanted to argue with him, but I couldn’t. At that time, he was right. I wouldn’t have said goodbye. Knowing the way I was, I would’ve just huffed at the mention and deny that I had any connection with her, saying that there wasn’t anything to say goodbye to.

“Yuu-chan…” I took a deep breath, knowing that the next words I was going to say would be the hardest. “Being around you has been hard for me, but it’s also opened me up. It’s made me softer and weaker… I’m starting to experience my emotions again all thanks to you.”

He huffed once again, but I continued anyways. “Despite that, I feel… liberated being around you. I wouldn’t say it’s happiness just yet, but I feel… more like myself. My old self. Not Widowmaker, not Mikaela Tepes, but rather, Mikaela Hyakuya; the boy you know.”

“So?”

“So… my point is, it feels good being myself again. I was truthful the other day when I said that I hated my line of work, that I didn’t like killing. If you’ll allow me Yuu… I’d like to take you up on that offer of yours.”

“Don’t toy with me.” he mumbled, refusing to look at me. I grabbed the sides of his head and forced him to stare me right in my eyes, to show him that I was serious. “Yuu-chan, I may not have been able to save Yoichi, I wasn’t able to do anything about Akane, but my experiences with you have shown me just how important family is. Not only to you, but to me also. I can’t undo what I’ve done and chances are high that we’ll be hunted for the rest of our lives, but they’ll be after you and the others anyways. What’s one more person to be on the run with you, someone with inside knowledge of what the organization is like? I promise you, my words are genuine. I do want to join your family, for real.”

Tears began welling up inside Yuu’s eyes. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me. I patted his head as he cried onto my shoulder, his mix of emotions manifesting themselves. I smiled and teared up myself, feeling relieved and content that I made this decision.

“Don’t worry Yuu-chan, I’m home with you now. I’m finally home.”


	17. Cheers In A Time of Crisis

“Watch out Yuu-chan!” I cried out, as a large metallic tentacle rose up from the ocean beneath us. I grabbed a hold of the flight stick, pulling it back so that it would make us ascend quicker. Fortunately, we managed to dodge the tentacle in time, but we couldn’t rest for long. A second one appeared, coming in our direction.

Yuu was fast and accurate with his controls of the helicopter, able to dodge the rest of the tentacles with ease. The two of us let out a sigh of relief once we cleared them, but the celebration was short lived. A long and narrow body swiftly arose from the ocean in front of us. Yuu tried to move us away from the body, but it was too large and too close to be able to dodge fully. The best he could do was move us away enough to minimize damage to the helicopter. The blades took a nasty blow and the landing gear both collided with the mechanical figure, causing us to be thrown off balance and start crashing into the ocean.

“Yuu-chan!”

I grabbed a hold of the flight stick once again, trying to help Yuu pull us up, but it was a fruitless effort. We were on a collision course with the ocean, unable to save ourselves.

I wrapped my arms around Yuu, with him doing the same to me. I closed my eyes and held him tight, bracing ourselves for the impact.

THUD

I opened my eyes once I heard a strange sound. I looked through the window and saw that we were hovering just above the ocean. Suddenly, it looked as if we were moving away from the ocean. H-how could this be?

I looked behind us and saw that there was a large pink robot holding us in its grasp. It was using its thrusters to fly and carry us over to land. Before we knew it, we were on land, safe and sound!

The robot flew over to our windshield. I noticed a woman inside of the robot; she had lilac hair and sported a blue jumpsuit with white gloves that were grasping a hold of two sticks that appeared to look like old arcade controllers. She had her tongue stuck out at us and signalled us before flying off. I watched as she was flying in the direction of the giant mechanical squid. Did she intend to fight it? The size of the squid was at least twenty times larger than her, but here she was, flying off into combat.

“Mika,” Yuu spoke. “You can let go of me now.”

“Right, sorry.” I said, retracting my arms and feeling my face warm up with embarrassment. I turned my attention back at the woman. “Is she really going to fight that thing?”

“That’s Shinoa for you.”

I turned towards him, my eyes wide with surprise. “That’s Shinoa?”

*

“D.VA! D.VA!”

As Yuu and I entered the city of Busan here in South Korea, we noticed that crowds were gathered around large screens all around the city, chanting this name. On the screen was this Shinoa woman that had saved us earlier, locked in battle with the giant mechanical squid. It appeared as if this battle was being broadcasted. It made me wonder if everything was just a fabricated stage show that Yuu and I unfortunately got caught in the middle of. I asked Yuu if he knew what was going on but he was as clueless as I was.

“Excuse me sir,” I tapped a random man’s shoulder that happened to be in front of us. He paused from his cheering and turned to me. “Might I ask what’s going on here?”

He tilted his head at me, apparently not understanding what I was saying. Luckily, I learned to speak multiple languages as part of my training and Korean was one of them. “Yeogi museun il-iya?”

“Dangsin-eun bawi mit-e salgoissda? Igeos-eun olhaeui gajang keun ibenteu-ibnida! Eodi hana bakk-e D.Va ga omnic wihyeob ssaum!”

Yuu turned to me, confused as to what the man said. “If my translation’s correct, I think he asked if we lived underneath a rock and that this was the biggest event of the year. Where someone named D.Va fights… something. I don’t know, it got a bit rusty after the D.Va name.”

“So this is some kind of show then? Did we need to buy tickets?” Yuu added. I repeated his question to the man, which surprisingly made his face turn white. “Igeos-eun deo syo ibnida! I dosineun geu jimseung e uihae gong-gyeog-eul badgoissda!”

My eyes widened. If he said what I thought he said then the situation was serious, deadly serious. “Wae dangsin eun daepi haji?”

“D.Va eun hangsang uli leul bohohabnida. Ulineun nawaseo geunyeoga seong-gonghal su issdolog geunyeo leul eung-won haeyahabnida. Ulineun geunyeo e daehan mid-eum eul gajigo!”

“What’s he saying, what’s he saying?” Yuu asked as he shook me. I didn’t respond right away, instead narrowing my eyes at the man. “He said that the city’s under attack. I asked him why don’t they evacuate but apparently they want to cheer D.Va on while she protects them.”

“Seriously?”

I nodded. I said to the man, “Dangsin ui salamdeul-eun babo igo jug-eul gachigaissda.”

The man just scowled and turned back to the screen, cheering on the beloved D.Va. I turned my gaze up at the screen and saw that she was being constricted by one of the squid’s tentacles. I grimaced, knowing what needed to be done. I grabbed Yuu’s shoulder and began dragging him away from the crowd, running back to where we came from.

“Whoa, whoa Mika, what’s going on?”

“We’re taking care of that squid ourselves.” I replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: Mika last said in Korean that they were idiots and deserved to die.  
> Also, I apologize if the Korean translation is a bit off or hard to read in regards to the fic. For the translation being off, I don't speak or write Korean so I had to use Google Translate. As for hard to read in regards to the fic, I wanted to keep it as realistic as I could to the situation they were in (aka, having the residents speak Korean) and plus I wanted to show off too that Mika was multilingual~ Don't worry though, this is the only instance of this happening~  
> Hope y'all stick around too~ The next chapter is one of my favourite ones yet ^o^


	18. Cherry Boy

I didn’t need to tell Yuu twice about taking out the mechanical squid that was apparently attacking the city. He was on board as soon as I told him, having the images of his friend on the screens be motivation that fueled him. My motivation… well, let’s just say that ever since I agreed to join Yuu’s family, I would have to start going out of my way to protect people rather than killing them and this is as good opportunity as any to start.

We reached the site where our helicopter was and looked out into the distance. This squid had apparently gotten closer to shore, but was still a good distance away. I used my visor to zoom in and examine the tentacle that held D.Va captive. It still had a tight hold on her and she was still struggling to break free, but it appeared as if her robot wasn’t damaged. The pressure of the tentacles apparently wasn’t enough to even make a dent in it. This was fortunate for us, it meant that all we needed to do was to have the creature let down its guard for a moment so she can escape.

“Yuu!” He turned to me. I held up a bag full of his Pulse Bombs that I insisted on hanging onto after his stunt back in Antarctica. I nodded at him. “Go nuts.”

He smiled widely, before swiping the bag from my hands and flashing out onto the water, on his way to the creature. I stayed behind and covered him from a sniping position. It didn’t appear as if the mechanical squid had noticed him, but the frantic flailing of the tentacles posed a hazard for Yuu. I shot at them if they drew near him. My bullets weren’t very effective against them, because of the metal plating, but it was enough to have them halt momentarily as Yuu flashed past them.

Eventually, he was on the mechanical creature. He ran all around the circumference of its body, placing Pulse Bombs as he went. As soon as the first one was about to detonate, he rewinded himself to just before the creature’s body and flashed away as fast as he could.

One by one the bombs exploded, but to Yuu’s and my horror, they appeared to be ineffective, not even distracting it once. The armour of this creature was sturdier and more resilient than we thought.

I used my visor to examine weak points on the creature. At first, it appeared as if there was none. There was no one inside of it either, thinking that it was being manually operated. It still could be, that perhaps Reaper or someone with a body signature similar to Reaper’s was controlling it, but I had to treat it as if it was sentient.

After zooming in, I managed to find one spot on its forehead that appeared to be vulnerable. There were three tiny holes, appearing to be bullet sized in a triangle formation. It was strange that it had this, but I didn’t complain. This was the perfect point to strike.

I aimed my sights on the area, aiming for my bullet to go directly in the hole. I held my breath and squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet flying at the target. I was off by three millimeters, but it still hit close to its mark, making the creature shake and weaken its grasp on the woman. As hoped, she took the opportunity to free herself and fly out, beginning to shoot the robot’s miniguns at its face.

“What do we do now Mika?” Yuu asked, standing beside me. I peered through my scope and noticed that there was a bullet mark on its forehead. I pointed in its direction. “There’s a black mark where I shot. If you got any Pulse Bombs left, put it on there.”

“I’ve only got one.” he said, holding it up. I grimaced but nodded. “It’ll have to do.”

He flashed towards the creature once more, having me provide cover fire for him once more. It didn’t take him long until he was upon the creature once again, running up its body so he could reach the forehead. He placed the Pulse Bomb exactly where I told him to, having it explode a few seconds later after he retreated. The explosion left a hole in the forehead, leaving it exposed. I was about to shoot my sniper at the exposed part, but I saw that D.Va was flying towards it herself.

A few seconds later, a figure emerged from the robot’s location. My visor began to pick up an energy signature coming from the robot, apparently it was going nuclear!

“Yuu-chan! Grab the girl and get out of there!” I said through our intercom.

He complied, managing to catch her mid-air and flashing away from the explosion. I checked again on the robot, who found its way inside the mechanical squid. The energy it amassed took physical form, quickly enveloping the whole robot in its light.

I ducked as the robot exploded, having to cover my ears to shield them from the loud noise it made. The explosion was apparently larger and stronger than Yuu’s Pulse Bombs were, at least fifty times as powerful.

As soon as the noise died down, I looked up and saw the giant mechanical squid sinking back into the ocean, making metallic grunts as it sunk. I checked for Yuu and the woman, but it appeared as if they had already made it back onto land and were already beside me.

“Oh Yuu, you just can’t keep your hands off of me, can’t you?” she said as she nuzzled his chest. I was about to glare and growl at her, but the expression on Yuu’s face was prominent that was unamused by her. He opened up his hands and spread his arms, intending to drop her, but she clung on tighter than ever, refusing to let go. Once he realized this, he tried to push her off, which was successful after a few failed attempts.

He flashed away from her and reappeared behind me. If I didn’t know any better, I swear he was using me as a shield. On second thought… I definitely didn’t know any better. Was he purposely using me to come between them?

“Shinoa Hiragi, at your service.” she introduced, pretending to curtsy at me. “But you can call me D.Va! Everyone else does! Except for Cherry Boy over there.”

I turned my head over my shoulder, seeing that Yuu’s face was beat red with blush. “Really Shinoa! After all this time you still haven’t dropped that name!”

“Why would I? It suits you Cherry Boy!”

Yuu screamed, hearing the name once again. Seeing his reaction actually humoured me. I found myself chuckling from the display. It was surprising to me; that was the first time I’ve laughed in quite a while.

“So… Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend here?”

Yuu sighed. “Shinoa, this is Mika.”

Her eyes began to widen and sparkle, which caught me off guard. “So this is the famous Mika I’ve heard so much about!”

Her eyes began shifting up and down, as if she was examining my whole body. Thinking this made me feel rather uncomfortable, and the more she continued, the discomfort I felt. “Boy oh boy Yuu, you hit the jackpot here. He has such great hips, and his face is so handsome and he has a hot body!”

“Shinoa, please don’t.”

“And he knows how to show it off too. Thigh highs and exposed chest? So sexy.” She approached me and leaned in as close as she could to my head, her hand covering the other corner of her mouth that wasn’t being pressed against my chest. “Now, between you and me, you can do a lot better than that idiot over there.”

“H-Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!” Yuu shouted, causing D.Va to snicker. I merely raised my eyebrow at her statement, confused as to what her intentions were. “You mean someone like yourself?”

“Oh heavens no!” she said, waving away my question. “You are SO not my type, no matter how sexy you look in those heels. No, I meant I could talk to my sponsors, see if I can hook you up with a model. What do you like? Male or female? Or would you rather it be a surprise when you take off their clothes?”

“I… I don’t really concern myself with personal relationships of that variety. It is… It was… Just no.”

She looked at me confused, then shrugged her shoulders. “Alright your loss. Don’t think this opportunity will last forever.”

I turned around and noticed that Yuu was banging his head on a nearby tree, his teeth gritted. I did not understand his motivations to perform this action, nor did I want to know. However, I felt that I at least knew the source.

I turned back to the woman. “What was that thing out there?”

“Oh, that? That was what the locals call an “omnic”. Not sure what it means but a few years ago, they suddenly appeared from the ocean and attacked the city. The military here made robots to combat them. They managed to hold them off but the same time the next year, they came back and defeated them with ease. So they recruited soldiers such as moi to pilot the machines and fight them.”

“I see.”

“They come back every year, thinking they’ve adapted to our technology but so long as I change up my fighting style, they don’t stand a chance! Although, granted, they are getting better. They almost had me but I’m grateful that you and Cherry Boy over there came along and help out! Couldn’t have done it without you!”

“Glad… to be of service then. But was it really necessary to blow up your mech? I can imagine a weapon like that is expensive.”

“Mhmm! It was necessary, and it is expensive but my sponsors have it covered! It’s the least they can do for protecting their city year after year!” She twirled around a couple of times, before she stopped where her side was facing my front. He bent her knee and pointed to some weird looking decals were placed on it. “Just look at them! This one’s from Snowstorm, a HUGE gaming company and my top sponsor! They’re about to put out a video game with me in it, and 20 other irrelevant playable characters. Then there’s this one from Shudder, a website where people go to stream that I use so often to play video games!”

She paused and began snickering. “HEY YUU! I HAVE ONE HERE SPECIALLY FOR YOU! ZARYA’S CHERRY FARMS! A PERFECT PLACE TO GO FOR CHERRY BOYS LIKE YOU!”

“ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!”

She began laughing once more, holding her sides. I joined in, finding amusement in Yuu’s reactions once again. She had to hold my shoulders to prevent herself from collapsing thanks to the laughter.

As soon as the two of us were finished, Yuu flashed back over. “Shinoa, we need to get serious now.”

“Can’t it wait? I have an adoring public that awaits their hero and idol!”

She walked past us and spread out her arms, as if she was going to embrace a crowd of people that were only imaginary.

“Yoichi’s dead.” Yuu bluntly said. Hearing this, D.Va turned around, appearing to be horrified from Yuu’s words. “Excuse me?”

“He’s dead Shinoa. Akane, Narumi, and a bunch of others too.” Her eyes began to well up hearing the news. She ran over to Yuu and began lightly beating his chest. He held her head as he continued. “Everyone’s in danger Shinoa. I’m bringing everyone together to protect them.”

“Who… who’s all left.”

“So far, you, me, Kimizuki, Guren, Shinya, Mitsuba and…” He turned and looked at me. I nodded at him, which made him smile. “And Mika too. We’re the only seven that are left.”

“Mi… Mitsu-chan’s alright?” Yuu nodded. “Thank goodness. I was afraid… thank goodness.”

“I’m bringing everyone together. You’re the last one I’ve yet to visit. Are you coming with us?”

“I don’t know.” She broke away from Yuu and began holding her arm, still feeling distressed from the news. Yuu leaned into Shinoa and grabbed her shoulders, staring in her eyes with seriousness. “Shinoa, listen to me! You’re in danger! We’re all in danger! There’s safety in numbers! Understand?”

“It’s just…”

He broke away from his grasp. “It’s because of Mitsuba, isn’t it?”

She didn’t respond, which confirmed Yuu’s suspicions. “Listen Shinoa, I don’t care what happened between the two of you. It’s going to be worse if the both of you are dead, understand?”

She appeared to still be hesitant, and Yuu was looking like he was losing his patience quicker than usual. I decided to step in with what I thought might take some of the pressure off. “What happened between the two of you anyway?”

“When the group disbanded, I said that I was going back to South Korea to help protect them from the omnics. She insisted on coming with me, but I wouldn’t allow it. Mitsuba’s strong and can hold her own, but she doesn’t know the power of these omnics. She’s fragile, I was afraid of something happening to her if I did allow her to come. She refused to listen to reason so I… I kind of broke up with her.”

“Oh, come on, Shinoa!”

“I know Yuu! It was stupid, something you would do if I’m to be honest, but she wouldn’t listen to reason! Much like you as well. Gee, you rubbed off on us you know that? I didn’t know idiot was contagious.”

I snickered when I saw Yuu scoff at her comment.

“Shinoa, you did that to protect her right? Well, that’s what I’m trying to do for you and the others! Instead though, I’m bringing everyone together instead of separating them! Shinoa, please, come back with us!”

“If it’s any consolation too,” I added in, deciding that revealing this bit of information might help smooth things along. “It was apparent that she still harboured feelings for you. She stated that she didn’t want to join because that she didn’t want to say goodbye again, especially to you. I am not the best when it comes to emotions or relationships, but I do believe that you still hold a special place in her heart.”

“Is… that really true?” She looked at Yuu who nodded to confirm my words. “You can count me in then!”

“Really? Awesome! You hear that Mika, Shinoa’s on our side now! Whoo hoo!”

“But!” she said, raising her finger. “Only under one condition?”

“Condition…?” the two of us said in unison. I watched as a smile curled widely across her lips and her eyebrows slant downward, to make her look evil. “Only if Yuu changes his codename from Tracer to Cherry Boy!”

I turned to Yuu and saw that his entire body had quickly turned beat red with frustration. He turned around and began walking away from her and back to the helicopter. “Nope! Nuh uh! Not happening! We’re leaving you here! You’re out of the family!”

I started chuckling once again. “Come on Cherry Boy, I thought you wanted to bring everyone together. It’s the only way to bring Shinoa with us!”

“NOPE!!!”


	19. Brought Together, Then Torn Apart

At long last, all of the missing members of Yuu’s team had finally been located. At least, the ones that were still alive. I asked Yuu how he felt as we made our way to the next destination. He admitted that he still felt the effects from losing Yoichi, but he also said that he was thankful for whom he was able to save, making special mention to me. I still doubted my decision in that, but seeing Yoichi perish before my eyes made me realize that everything I had been doing up until now was wrong. He was so young and innocent but yet, he was marked for death, much like many of my targets.

I didn’t want to kill anyone unless if I had to, to protect my new… allies. I also wanted to atone for all the unnecessary murders I caused, starting off with those that were connected with Mahiru Hiragi. Yuu, Genji, Zenyatta and anyone else that was under her wing, I want to protect and joining Yuu’s family is one way to make sure I can achieve that.

*

One seemingly long helicopter ride later, the three of us finally reached our destination: Route 66. Our goal was to retrieve Mitsuba Sangu, aka Mercy, now that everyone’s been located. Yuu’s plan was to collect her then travel to Genji’s lab where we would continue to live. It wasn’t the best sounding plan, nor the most comfortable but the safest for the time being until we figure out a better alternative.

As soon as we stepped out of the helicopter, we were greeted by Shiho Kimizuki, aka, Soldier: 76. Shinoa had contacted him on the way here using her mecha, giving him the coordinates and location to meet up at as per Yuu’s request. He hadn’t forgotten that Soldier: 76 asked to be contacted once everyone was going to be together and kept true to his promise.

I greeted Solider: 76 with a nod, with him repeating the gesture back to me. Last time the two of us saw each other, we weren’t on good grounds but things are fine now. A nod is a soldier’s way of acknowledgement to an ally.

“Able to track down Reaper?” Yuu asked his pink haired ally. Unfortunately, he shook his head. “Trail went cold. Literally. Tracked him to Antarctica, couldn’t track him since.”

Yuu’s face went grim, while mine curled itself into a frown, remembering what happened with Reaper and the Antarctic. However, Shinoa intervened, trying to brighten the situation by wrapping her arms around Yuu’s and my necks. “Come on now everyone! We can worry about this Reaper guy later!”

“He killed my sister!”

“Well he killed mine!” she shouted, pointing one of her fingers above my head. Both Yuu and I looked at her with surprise. I looked at Yuu who shrugged his shoulders and smiled awkwardly. “You mean to say that Shinoa Hiragi-“

“Is Mahiru’s sister, yes!” she answered, breaking off from her rather awkward embrace and walking a few paces in front of us. My eyes grew wide with surprise. I didn’t understand anything about this situation, and I didn’t like that. “You knew this entire time?”

“Yup!”

“And you’re not trying to murder me for revenge?”

“Mhmm!” I narrowed my eyes at her, suspicious of her true intentions. She noticed this and shrugged. “What? Is it really that abnormal to not want revenge against someone who killed one of your family members?”

“In my line of work, yes.”

She sighed and began shaking her head between her fingertips. “Then in that case, let’s just say I forgive you.”

My eyes narrowed even further. She forgave me? So easily? Just like that? I didn’t buy it for a second. It appeared as if she noticed this also. She walked up to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. My automatic response was to grab my rifle, but when she didn’t go further than that, I waited and watched to see what she did.

“Mika, back when the initiative was still running, Yuu talked about you non-stop. He confided in me. Without knowing you, I knew what type of person you are. When I found out you killed my sister, I didn’t buy for one second it was you that did it.”

“But I did.”

“No, that was Widowmaker. The people that brainwashed you are to blame for my sister’s death and for making you do that. Not for one second do I hold a grudge against you.” I looked away from her, my body tensing up a bit. I could feel a warm liquid form in my eyes but I fought it back as she continued. “When you showed up with Yuu I knew that he brought you back, the real you. So when you ask if I want revenge against you, the answer’s no. Because you didn’t do anything. Understand?”

“… Understood.” I replied, wiping away the liquid from eyes using my arm.

“Good.” She turned over to Soldier: 76 and smirked. “And now for you Mr. Doom and Gloom. I never said that we were abandoning the hunt for this Reaper fellow, just putting it off for a couple of days. Get the gang back together, share information, formulate a plan, maybe braid each other’s hair if we’re up for it. Understand that?”

He stared at Shinoa in silence, before giving a grunt as a reply. He began marching forward along the route, stopping momentarily to look back at her. “No one touches the hair.”

*

“Oh no!” Yuu exclaimed, seeing the sight that was before us. We were just in front of Mercy’s house, looking at the sight it had become. The windows were shattered, with glass shards sprawled across the lawn. The door to the entrance was completely missing from sight.

“Mitsu-chan!” Shinoa cried out, before racing forward inside the house. The rest of us followed in after her.

“Welcome home.” a dark, sinister voice spoke just as we entered. Shinoa was frozen just before us, looking down at the ground. We leaned over to see what she was staring at.

My eyes widened, unable to believe the sight that was right in front of us. It was Mercy… Mitsuba lying on the ground, completely lifeless in a pool of blood. There were two bullet holes in her chest, appearing to come from shotguns. And standing over her body was none other than Reaper.

“NO!!!” Shinoa screeched, as she dropped down to her knees, starting to weep.

“YOU BASTARD! NOT AGAIN!” Soldier: 76 brought out his assault rifle and began spraying his bullets at Reaper, but to no avail. He phased through each and every one of them.

“Farewell.”

His body formed into shadowy mists and flowed out of the area. Soldier: 76 ran out and tried to chase after him, leaving the rest of us to tend to Mitsuba’s body.

Shinoa inched closer to her and cradled the body in her arms and held it tight against her chest. She began rocking back and forth while tears trailed down her cheeks and dripped down onto Mitsuba. “Mitsuba… Mitsuba… I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.”

“Damn it!” Yuu barked. He slammed a fist against the nearest wall to him and leaned on his arm. “Another one… How many will it take until they’re satisfied!!!”

I already knew the answer: All of them. However, I didn’t want to repeat those words to Yuu, not with the way he was feeling. They won’t rest until each one of them is dead. Not unless someone stops them.

At that moment, an idea brewed inside my mind. I grimaced, realizing what I’d have to do to set the plan in action. I tried to think of alternative ways to go about my plan, but I was unable to think of any. This plan was what I believed to be the most sure fire way to guarantee success.

“Mika, you doin’ alright buddy?” Yuu asked, his face just inches away from mine. His head was tilted inquisitively as he tried to figure out what was wrong with me. I grabbed his head and held it in place. I looked deep into his eyes with mine and said, “I’m sorry for this.”

I pushed him out of the way and approached the sobbing D.Va. I kicked her side to get her to look up at me. I glared down at her, with the iciest and coldest stare I could and firmly said. “Let go of her.”

“Mika, what are you doing!” Yuu cried out from behind me, but I ignored it and completely focused on the target in front of me. I repeated again, “Let go.”

“Why? What are you going to do with her?”

“That is none of your concern.” I bent down and grabbed the corpse’s hair. I was unable to pull her out of the girl’s grasp, however. I glared at her one more time. “Let go and give her to me.”

“NO!”

“I’m sorry for this.” I mumbled, just before I swung the back of my hand at her, where it made contact with her face and knocked her back with surprise. She remained still, caressing where I hit, while staring at me.

I picked up the body and hoisted it over my shoulders. When I spun around, I found exactly what I had anticipated to find. Tracer was in my way, with his guns aimed at me. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and his mouth was trembling. “Where- where are you thinking of going.”

“Back.”

“Back?” Yuu shook his head. “You don’t mean with them? Right?”

I remained silent. I took a few steps forward but Yuu remained motionless and still in my way.

“MIKA! ANSWER ME!” Yuu shouted once again. “You’ve seen what they’ve done, the lives they’ve ruined! Why would you want to go back to that?!”

I sighed. Using my free hand, I brought my sniper rifle out from behind my back. Yuu crouched down, taking a defensive stance, thinking that I was going to attack him with it, but I wasn’t.

I aimed the rifle beside me, right where D.Va was. Yuu’s eyes widened seeing this. I said to him, “Drop your weapons and get out of my way or else you’ll lose two of our friends this day.”

“Mika-“ I primed my sniper, ready to shoot. Yuu remained still for a few more seconds, before opening his hands and having his twin blasters drop to the ground. He rose up and moved out of my way. I smirked, pleasant of the way the situation was turning out. “Do not follow. Do not forget, snipers can shoot from far away.”

I began to take my leave. As I reached the doorframe, I was halted by his hand suddenly being placed on my shoulder. I looked over it and into his eyes. He said to me, “Just answer me this Mika. Why?”

“There is no other way Tracer.” I shrugged his hand off of my shoulders and began walking away. “You’ve seen what they can do. I must return and do what must be done.”

“And what exactly is that?” I continued forth and ignored Yuu’s question. I felt he got enough out of me. “MIKA!”

I kept ignoring his pleas and kept marching forward. Each step was starting to become hard for me to take but I had to fight through the feelings and press forward. I had my mind made up. There’s a job that needs to be done.

“WHAT ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS! WHAT ABOUT YOUR NEW FAMILY! WHAT ABOUT! What about…” He paused. I was tempted to see what he was going to say, but still continued. It was better this way. Luckily though, his shouting was loud enough that I could hear him anyways. “WHAT ABOUT ME!”

I stopped and sighed. I knew what this was doing to him. It was tearing him up inside. This was the third time we’ve parted ways, and this time was potentially the worst, seeing as I promised him I wouldn’t leave. I shouldn’t have made such a promise in the first place, it was foolish to.

I looked back at him. Our eyes locked with one another and we remained still, staring at the other. I finally pulled my head away and continued forth, ignoring the cries behind me. Eventually, they died done and finally stopped. I couldn’t tell if it was because I was too far away or because he gave up. Knowing Tracer, it was the former.

I finally reached the helicopter and tossed the body into the backseat. I took to the pilot’s seat and made my way back to my base. There was no turning back now. I was on my own with a mission to complete. I said I didn’t want to kill again but it looks like I have to go back on my promise already.


	20. The Long Con

The twin mechanical doors before me slid open, granting me access to my chamber. I looked around as I made my way to the console at the end of the room. Nothing changed since I took my leave thankfully. I still had all of my weapons and equipment right where I left them all.

As I approached my seat, I tossed the body I was carrying down beside me and out of plain sight. I sat down and pressed the power key to activate the monitors in front of me. With another press of a button, the center monitor began displaying a picture of a phone and emitted a ringing noise. Not long after, the image disappeared and was replaced with live video feed of the one I was trying to contact.

She had her back turned to me, all I could see was pink hair and the back of black dress. I spoke to her, “Hello mother.”

She turned around, quickly smiling with delight as soon as she realized it was me on the other end. “Mikaela! I wasn’t expecting you back so soon! How was the hunt?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. I know my mother, she was playing innocent. The reason, I didn’t know just yet.

I turned to my side and held up the body of Mercy so it was in sight for her to see. “This was the target you originally wanted to go after, wasn’t it?”

Her eyes twinkled seeing it. “Oh yes, yes, yes! You retrieved the body! I’m so proud of you!”

“Are you now?” I tossed the body aside and stared into her eyes. “Doesn’t that mean I should be rewarded?”

“Rewarded? Doesn’t the company already pay you for each successful mission?”

“Oh yes, quite handsomely in fact. But I meant from you Mother, like back during our training days. You used to hug me whenever you were proud of me. I want to see you again, it’s been way too long since we last saw each other face-to-face.”

“You mean bring you to the main headquarters?”

“Oh yes.” I began smirking. Things were going as planned. “Isn’t it normal for mothers to bring their children to their work? I want to see you Mother, and the people that we work for also. I think it’s about time.”

“I think you’re right about that too Mikaela.” She began smirking also, which had me slightly worried but for the time being, until I knew her motives, I pretended she was just imitating me. Like mother like son sort of thing. “It is about time for you to come to the company.”

“Excellent. I’ll deliver the body when I arrive. Send the coordinates and I’ll be on my way.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about the body. I already have someone coming to pick it up.”

At that moment, I heard a sound as clear as day coming behind me. It sounded like a flap, like a flag in the wind. I spun around in my seat and saw someone behind me, someone I wasn’t expecting to see. Reaper.

“Hello Widowmaker.” he spoke, starting to chuckle afterwards. I turned back around and glared at Krul. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Mikaela, you’ve met Reaper, correct? He’s one of our top secret field agents.” I began biting my lower lip. I wasn’t expecting this, any of this. I knew Reaper had a connection to the Sanguinem, but I didn’t expect he was in association with her. When I first mentioned him to her she was surprised the name, she- … It was all starting to make sense now. “You’ve planned this from the start haven’t you?”

“Mhmm!” she replied, with her smirk seeming more coy now. “Ever since that assignment that I gave you to escort the payload back at King’s Row. We knew Yuuichirou Hyakuya would be present, trying to protect the bodies of his, shall I say, late comrades. We could’ve had our resident masked assassin take him out right then and there but we thought it best to play the long con. You see, we know his one and only weakness.”

“You used me!” I snapped, rage building inside me.

“Quite effectively too, if I might add.” She began twirling one of her rose coloured locks between her fingers. “I know you, you strive for perfection in your missions. That’s what we taught you after all. I knew that if I ordered you to eliminate anyone that interferes, have Reaper make an appearance then disappear, you’d want to go after him.”

“Yes.” Reaper leaned into me, taking his mask off and revealing his face to me. “Did you really think that something so petty as revealing my face was cause enough for me to flee?”

The grip my teeth had on my lower lip intensified. I should’ve seen the signs from the start. I was foolish not to though, because look at where it led me.

“We knew that Yuu would join you in your hunt, revealing the locations of the rest of the agents along the way too and where he was planning on hiding them. This way, we can take them all out in one shot.”

“There’s a hole in your plan Krul.” I stated. She raised an eyebrow curiously at me. “And what would that be Mikaela?”

“Your plan relies on me revealing the information I collected.”

“Does it?” At that moment, I felt something creep up my head, with it quickly becoming lighter. I turned to Reaper and saw he was holding my visor. “Don’t forget, I’m the one that gave you that visor. I don’t mean to gloat but I designed it too. I built it so that it records everything.”

I spun back around to the screen, surprised. “Everything!?!”

“Yes, everything. Everything you see, everything you hear, everything you do. Nothing is a secret from us. All we need to do is download the information from your visor and we’ll be ready to strike.”

I began gritting my teeth. I hated this, I’ve been playing right into her hands this entire time! I jeopardized things too and put the others into harm’s way all thanks to my now-failed plan.

I glared at her. “You’re not my Mother and I hope you rot in Hell!”

“Hurtful Mikaela, hurtful!” She pressed her hand to her chest and mouthed an o, faking surprise. I knew at this point she was just playing with me, especially now that everything was going her way. “Oh, and I forgot to mention: We will be seeing each other once again Mikaela, but it won’t be a casual visit. You’re being retrained. I’m getting my Widowmaker back.”

At that sudden moment, a jolt of pain started surging from the back of my head. Both my mind and body went numb and I dropped to the ground. Using the last bit of energy I could muster, I whispered, “Yuu.”


	21. The Next Step

**Location** : Guren’s Lab

**Time** : 17:56

Ever since the incidents at Route 66, the remaining members of the ex-Moon Demon Initiative reluctantly continued on with Yuu’s plan. Both of the men wanted to go off on their own and pursue their own individual missions; Yuu wanted to chase after Mika and prevent him from returning to his old life while Kimizuki wanted to hunt down Reaper and put an end to him once and for all. However, it took a sullen Shinoa to convince both of them to put aside their stubbornness and have them follow the plan.

Tensions were high for everyone at Guren’s Lab. Shinoa had briefed Guren and Shinya of the events leading up to their arrival, including Mika’s betrayal. The three discussed about what they should do in regards to the man, with neither of them coming to a conclusion. They each harboured resentment against him but were unsure how to act upon it.

Kimizuki was spending most of his time around Guren’s weapon stash, equipping himself with various guns and gadgets that he felt would be most efficient and effective to kill Reaper with. He didn’t care much about Mika or what the others were going to do with him. The only thing that mattered to him was taking Reaper down.

Yuu on the other hand, was too overly concerned about Mika. Ever since he arrived at the lab, he did nothing but pace back and forth, a lot of times flashing back and forth also. It distracted the other four but they let him be and let him to his own thoughts. He was trying to think of scenarios or reasons why Mika would suddenly turn on them. He kept replaying everything in his mind, trying to find answers.

“Yuu.” Guren said, appearing in front of Yuu. “You’re giving everyone a headache. Stop pacing.”

“Screw you.” Yuu went around Guren and continued on with his pacing, causing Guren to hold and shake his head. “Idiot.”

“Now, now Guren.” Shinya commented as he floated to Guren’s side. “He’s distressed much like we are. This is just his way of coping.”

“Ayy!” Kimizuki called out. “So what’s the plan? We hiding here or are we going to do something?”

Shinya flashed Guren a concerned look. Unbeknownst to the three newcomers, the two of them had planned to go out and shut down the Sanguinem for good. Now that Shinoa, Yuu, and Kimizuki were present, Shinya wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to bring them along or keep their plans a secret.

Guren let loose a sigh, and turned to Kimizuki. “Yeah, we’re going out shortly! Take it you want in?”

“As long as part of going out involves taking down a certain Reaper.” Guren nodded. “Good.”

“Are you sure about this Guren? They are still young.”

“I’m sure. They are young but they’re soldiers. You saw them act in the battlefield years back, they’re capable of handling themselves.” Shinya scowled momentarily at Guren’s words, then nodded. “Besides, chances are they’ll follow us eventually. It’s less of a liability to keep them informed.”

“Your words hold true like always. So, what’s the plan?”

Guren thought for a moment, then turned to the living area where they had left Shinoa but found her to no longer be there. Guren looked around the area for her, only to find the petit woman inside her robotic suit of armour. He approached the woman, folding his cybernetic arms when he stopped in front of her. “And what do you think you’re doing?”

“Livestreaming!” she said with delight. The two remained silent, waiting for the other to say something. When Guren was sure she wasn’t going to elaborate, he asked, “Why?”

“It helps me take my mind off things!” She turned and looked at the digital screen in front of her. “Oh don’t worry about him. That’s just grumpy old Genji. He’s just cranky because the old timer hasn’t had his nap yet.”

“… Put that thing away before I break it.”

“Now, now Guren.” Shinya said as he approached Guren once more. “In her defense, you indeed have not slept in a while. You must be quite exhausted.”

“Oh, that’s Zenyatta!” Shinoa commentated once again. “Yeah, he and Genji are totally gay for each other! They’re so cute too! They talk about their feelings and cuddle on the couch and they go everywhere together!”

“… On second thought Guren, you have my permission to do as you wish.”

“That aside, Shinoa-“

“D.Va.”

“Excuse me?”

“My viewers can hear you. They know me as the wonderful and fabulous D.Va! So I would appreciate it if you could refer to me as such when I’m livestreaming.”

Guren thought about Shinoa’s words before responding. She couldn’t see but underneath his armour, he was developing a large and sly smile as he got an idea. “Okay, ‘Such’, I need you to use your people to help get us some information. We need the location of the Sanguinem’s headquarters.”

“You came to the right gal! I actually have an adoring fan that works for them!” Shinya went wide eyed hearing her words. Guren, however, grabbed ahold of Shinoa’s mech and leaned into her. “You’re broadcasting our plan and location to our enemy!”

“Calm down, he’s a good guy!” Shinoa pressed her hand to her lips and began giggling. “He’s been a long-time fan and one of my top donators too! He’s told me that it’s just a job to him and doesn’t mean anything more. He’s even helped me out and told me when some of their agents were coming after me! I guess you can say he’s my man on the inside!”

“Man on the inside!!!” Yuu shouted, stopping himself in place. He turned around to the trio and flashed over to Guren, grabbing his arms intently. “Guren! We have to go to Mika’s base! He’s still on our side!!!”

“What do you mean, still on our side?” Shinoa asked, scowling because of the mention of his name. “He took Mitsu-chan’s body!”

“As an act!” He loosened the grip on Shinoa’s body and flashed in front of her. “Remember when he held the sniper up to your head? He said ‘get out of my way or else you’ll lose two of **our** friends this day’! That was a clue to let us know he’s still on our side!”

“I uh-“ Shinoa looked away from Yuu and her screen and began scratching the side of her cheek. “I didn’t hear that at the time.”

“When he left too, he said ‘I must return and do what must be done.’ He never said he was betraying us! He was just acting!”

“It certainly sounds like he had planned on taking on the Sanguinem by himself.” Shinya commented. “That’s what Guren and I would’ve said, had we done that ourselves.”

“Exactly!” Yuu began flashing between the three of them, excited about his revelation. “See! See! Mika’s on our side! We have to go get him Guren!”

Guren rested his head into his hands. “There is no guarantee that he’s still there. If we go to their headquarters first then perhaps we will-“

Yuu clutched Guren’s arms once more and stared into his visor. “We have to try at least! Guren please! He’s part of our family too!”

Guren remained silent, mulling over Yuu’s words. Yuu waited but he was too impatient to wait long for a response. He lightly pushed Guren and began stomping off. “Fine, if you’re not going to get him then I will!”

“His base might contain valuable information,” Shinya spoke, raising a finger up in the air. His words caught Yuu’s attention and stopped him leaving. “It might prove to be beneficial to our mission, should we go there first.”

“See Guren, see!” Yuu zipped over to Guren once more. “Shinya gets it! We can kill two birds with one stone!”

“If I might interrupt,” Shinoa said, capturing all of their attention. “My contact has said that their headquarters are located at Lijiang Tower in China. They can’t give me anything more than that.”

Before Guren responded, Shinoa turned back to the digital screen inside her mech and smiled at it. “Hey everyone, special shoutout to TrashyVampire666 for helping me and my friends out. Everyone go shower him with some love!”

“Fine.” Guren finally decided, turning around and began collecting his weapons. “First we go to Mika’s base, then Lijiang Tower. No other detours. Got it?”

Yuu began developing a wide and bright smile, being thankful and happy that Guren agreed. “Got it!”

Guren turned and looked at Kimizuki. “Alright with you?”

“No soldier left behind.” Kimzuki responded, bringing out a gun from behind his back. Guren nodded at him. “Yes, no soldier left behind.”


	22. Reunited Once More

**Location** : Mika’s Base

**Time** : 2:20

The group of five finally reached the location of Mika’s secret base. Thankfully, Yuu remembered the way when he and Mika first visited, just before they set off on their journey. Unfortunately, they had to travel to King’s Row first in order for Yuu to remember the way, which cut into their time.

Yuu was eager to enter the base, flashing out of the helicopter before it even touched down onto the ground. He raced to the set of double metallic doors and tried to pry them open with his bare hands, but to no avail.

“You’re not going to enter that way.” Guren commented, as the other four joined their ally. Yuu frowned and began brainstorming different ways to enter. Shinoa, while in her mech, approached beside Yuu and smiled at him. “Let me handle this!”

She stopped dead in front of the door and exclaimed, “NERF THIS!”

She was launched out of her mech and landed safely on the ground. She flipped her hair back and smiled at them. “Just give it a few seconds! Oh, we may want to run too.”

The suit of armour began to glow yellow as it started building up energy. The other four didn’t need to be told twice to move out of the way. Just as they reached a safe distance away, the mech exploded, blowing away the metal doors as Shinoa intended.

Yuu glared at Shinoa. “A little more of a head’s up would’ve been nice.”

“Oh shush you. Go rush inside and find your precious Mika.”

Guren slapped his forehead with his palm as Yuu eagerly complied to Shinoa’s suggestion. “You did that on purpose.”

“Yep!” she responded, with a bright smile on her face. She pulled out a remote from the backside of her belt and began pressing some of the buttons that were on it. “You all go on ahead, I’m staying here and ordering myself a new mech.”

“You can get another one just like that?” Kimizuki asked.

“Yep! They have them pre-built for me nowadays. I tend to blow them up a LOT. All I need to do is just punch in my coordinates and what colour I want and it’ll be here within minutes!” She turned back to the remote. “Ooo! Maybe I’ll go for a yellow one this time, with black stripes! I can be called B.Va then! What do you guys think?”

When she looked up, she noticed that she was alone. She shrugged and continued to fiddle with the remote. “Or maybe I should go for a junky look to get more donations? Hmm…”

*

Kimzuki, Guren, and Shinya found Yuu kneeling in front of a console, looking down at the ground. He appeared to be staring intently at something. When they looked to see what it was, they found a red stain that was of a familiar substance.

“Is it what we think it is Yuu?” Shinya asked. Yuu placed his fingers on the stain and grimaced. “Yeah, it’s blood. Still wet but it’s beginning to dry.”

“It appears as if there was some sort of struggle here recently.” Kimizuki commented. Yuu perked up to his words and began flashing around the area, trying to find Mika or anything that would lead him to his whereabouts.

As he did, Guren accessed the console that they were at as Shinya watched. Kimizuki on the other hand began looking around also, but not for signs of Mika. Rather, he was looking for information of the man he was hunting, Reaper.

“Blast!” Guren groaned. “These guys are good. The files are wiped.”

“All gone?” Yuu asked, pausing his search. Guren nodded. “All that’s left are the call records.”

“Check them.”

Guren complied to Yuu’s request. Yuu smiled as he looked at the most recent call, quickly becoming excited and hopeful. “He was here! I knew it!”

“It says that the call was placed yesterday to his mother.” Guren scrolled through the rest of the records. “All of the calls were either from or to his mother.”

“As expected. She’s been the one that’s controlling him after all.” Yuu said.

“Ayy, Yuu.” Kimizuki called out, capturing all three of their attention. Yuu raised an eyebrow curiously at him. “What is it?”

“You’re not going to like this.” Yuu’s eyes went wide as Kimizuki held an item he found up. It was a white mask that looked like a skull that was all too familiar to them. “REAPER!”

“Musta been who he was struggling with.”

Yuu began biting his lower lip, the thought of Mika and Reaper fighting being too stressful for him to bear. “We need to go to Lijiang Tower, pronto.”

“Agreed.” Guren said, shutting off the console and rising up from the seat.

“Gentlemen, and Yuu, may I introduce you to you the newest star of South Korea, B.Va!” Shinoa appeared in the doorway, sporting a new yellow jumpsuit with black stripes to go along with her matching new mech.

Yuu dashed past her, not minding her words. She looked at where he was going, then back to the three that were left, confused. “What’s going on?”

“We’ll fill you in on the way.”

*

**Location** : Lijiang Tower

**Time** : 6:30

The five soldiers found themselves in the lobby of the tower. It was dark, only being lit with a lamp at the reception desk. Guren was disgruntled, as this wasn’t how he wanted to approach the situation. Just earlier, they were staked outside the building and were about to do reconnaissance of the entire building. However, Yuu dashed and forced his way inside the building when no one kept an eye on him, which only left them with the direct approach.

“Mika! MIKA!!!” Yuu shouted. Guren dashed over to Yuu and placed his hand on his mouth, quieting the man. “You’re an idiot, you know that! These are our enemies that want to kill us and here you are announcing our location!”

Guren was forced to let go when he saw a twinkle from the shadows above them. A lone bullet flew directly at them at an incredible speed, but luckily, the two backed off before it made contact.

Yuu looked behind him and noticed the shape of the bullet, quickly becoming excited. “It’s a sniper bullet! Mika! It’s us!”

Another bullet came flying out from the shadows, but this time, Shinoa stepped in front of the targets and brought up a digital shield to block the bullet. “Digital Matrix activated!”

A couple more bullets came flying out, but were blocked thanks to her shield.

“Mika! Come out of there! It’s us, your friends!”

“I’ve got you in my sights!” Kimizuki called out, as he pressed a button on his visor. A reticle appeared where the sniper bullets were coming from. He began shooting at it, with the hopes of drawing out the sniper.

“Stop that Kimizuki!” Yuu said, grabbing ahold of the soldier’s gun and throwing off his aim.

“Ay! Yuu, stop it! I can’t control if you’re-”

At that moment, Kimizuki pressed a button on his gun that released a trio of grenades flying in the direction of where the sniper was, exploding as they made contact with the ground.

“MIKA!” Yuu cried out, about to race up to help his friend. However, a shadow flew out of the smoke and down to the ground in front of them. The five saw that the figure had blond hair that was tied back into a tiny ponytail, and donned a low cut purple suit with thigh high, high heeled boots. In his arms was an automatic sniper rifle.

The man rose up and glared at the five of them. Yuu took a couple of steps forward, feeling elated to see the sight before him. “Mika! It is you!”

The man diverted his attention to the one who spoke, slanting his eyes at him. “Mika? Who’s Mika?”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lateness of this chapter ^^; Real life has been getting in the way and I've been focusing on other projects too ^^; I have a looot going on right now and haven't had much time to finish this up ^^;  
> This fic is not abandoned but chapters will be MAJORLY slow ^^; I apologize for that ^^;

***Earlier; Mika’s Perspective***

“Yuu… Yuu-chan…”

My eyes began to stagger open just as I regained consciousness. The sight in front of me was blurry, unable to comprehend or understand what was before me. All I could see was a human-like figure dressed in black, which my mind immediately thought of was Yuu-chan.

“You’re awake.” a dark and eerie voice commented. I recognized immediately who said it, and as soon as that happened, the visual became as clear as day to me. “Reaper.”

“Widowmaker.” He approached me and grabbed the base of my chin, sinking his claws deep enough in my skin so to cause me pain, which I believe was his intent. “You’re up earlier than expected, much like she anticipated.”

I jerked my arms, intending to fight and escape, but they were held back. I turned to my sides and saw that metal cuffs were tied to each of my wrists. I looked down and inspected my legs. As expected, the same was there, wrapped around my ankles also.

“Try as you like, but you know there’s no escape. Even if you broke out of them, you’d be hunted down before you reached the next floor.”

Reaper began to chuckle, taking amusement in seeing my struggle. I had to admit, as much as it disdained me to do so, he was right. I know of the Sanguinem’s ways a little too well. No matter how much training I have under my belt, I wouldn’t be able to make it out.

“Now then, care to begin your re-education Widowmaker?”

My eyes narrowed at him. “If you expect me to cooperate, you’re out of your mind.”

“We don’t need you to cooperate. You see, recently, a new program was created to quickly educate recruits into our program. And the results so far have been… let’s say rather effective.”

Using his free hand, Reaper snapped his fingers in the air. Moments later, a woman came into the room and stood by his side. At first, this woman was unrecognizable to me. Her hair was blue, styled with pigtails on each side of her head. At the front, as clear as day, were a pair of dark horns. Her armour that she sported was red, with brown features for the skin tight parts. Behind her back was a pair of mechanical wings, designed to look tattered, much like a demon’s would look. In fact, now that I think about it, her whole appearance seemed quite devilish.

As soon as I examined her face however, it was apparently to me who it was. I hadn’t known them for long, but combined with what Reaper had said meant that it could mean one thing: Mitsuba Sanguu, aka, Mercy.

I narrowed my eyes even further at Reaper. “What did you do to her?”

“Such keen eyes. And here I thought for a moment you wouldn’t recognize her.” I didn’t respond to his taunts, and waited patiently for him to answer my question. Thankfully, he caught on. “You see Widowmaker, I can do much more than take lives: I can also collect souls and use them however I see fit. Since you were so gracious to bring us her body, Ms. Tepes insisted that I return her soul to her body and make her my new apprentice.”

I began to scowl, realizing how grim the situation had become.

“All this soldier needed was a little makeover and a little exposure to our education video to become the Sanguinem’s newest recruit to the special operations division. And if I may say, she has been an excellent soldier thus far. Very loyal, and very obedient. Isn’t that right Mercy?”

“Yes. I live to serve the Sanguinem.”

I shifted my attention over to her. “Mitsuba, you can’t fall victim to their brainwashing! Think about how Shinoa would feel!”

“Ah yes, Shinoa Hiragi, aka D.Va. The so called “hero” of South Korea. Mercy, how do you feel about her?”

The devil woman began to smirk, her tongue poking out from her lips. “I will enjoy crushing her underneath my heel, time and time over.”

“That’s my girl.” Reaper placed his hand on top of her hair and began rubbing it, as if he were a proud father praising his daughter… which is what the situation has apparently become. “You see Widowmaker, our brainwashing program is strong. Nothing can resist it. But, I’m sure you’ll realize that for yourself very soon.”

At that moment, a pair of metal claws came out from the walls to each side of me. Down from the ceiling came a monitor with the Sanguinem’s logo on it. I tried to close my eyes and resist, but the metal claws latched themselves on my head and pried my eyes open against my will. The screen came even closer to my face, so that it was the only thing I could see.

“Enjoy your movie.”

Images began to flash on the screen, moving at a speed faster than my mind could register. From what I could register, they were gruesome images, showcasing assassination targets. There were a few images mixed in there of sniper reticles and shadows.

Text suddenly started to get mixed in with the video, followed by a soft, womanly voice that was accompanied by soft music.

“Welcome to the Sanguinem. You live only to serve the Sanguinem. Your mission is your only concern. You are a soldier. You must carry out your mission to the utmost perfection. Nothing else matters but the mission objective. Forget everything about your past, forget everything about yourself. You are a Sanguinem soldier now, and that’s all that matters.” the woman spoke, beginning to repeat the same lines over and over again.

I tried to resist, but I could feel everything being burned into my mind and I was powerless to stop it. After a while, I began to struggle, finding that resisting was becoming a difficult task. I tried to keep my mind sharp and alert and resist its effects but the more exposed I was to the brainwashing, the harder it was to do.

I began to feel weak, starting to lose my will. My tensed body started to relax itself. It was just a matter of time until I slipped away for good.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there everyone~  
> So I wrote this after brainstorming with my friend Yumi_chan_Hamano and playing the Overwatch BETA~
> 
> I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this story tbh XD;; I have plans for more but I'm unsure if I want to continue it or not XD So I thought I'd post the first chapter and see what results from it~  
> Don't worry too, future chapters will have more of an original story, just wanted to open up with an Alive-like beginning.
> 
> Hope y'all like whatcha see though :3


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